Destiny High Band Camp
by EternalAria
Summary: Twins Roxas and Namine Harada have just moved to Destiny Island after "the accident". Namine falls for a silver haired boy, but someone is NOT happy about this. Roxas meets a certain redhead who makes him question everything about himself. Namiku, AkuRoku
1. Meet the Teachers

A/N: My first real story! Inspired by my times at band camp at a small school in the middle of nowhere. :)

I don't really like the first few chapters, lol, sorry for the bad attempts at humor, feel free to skip over them.

Disclamer: I don't own KH.

* * *

Namine stepped out of the car, nervously clutching an old clarinet case. Her white sandals made contact with the pavement and she looked up at Destiny Island High School. She felt a warm breeze caress her face and gently rustle her blonde hair. She looked around. Even this far inland, the area was covered in palm trees. The grass was so… green. The sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It was the most beautiful place Namine had ever seen. She turned back and smiled at her Dad.

"Bye Dad! Wish me luck!"

"Don't worry sweetheart, I'm sure everything will be fine. You have a nice day now."

"Thanks Dad."

"Oh, and tell your brother to stop glaring," he said, glancing at Namine's twin brother Roxas, who was currently shooting death glares at the wall.

"Ha ha, okay. Goodbye."

Namine waved as her dad drove off. She looked at Roxas and sighed. His messy blonde hair moved slightly in the wind as he grimaced. She walked over to him.

"Hey, cheer up," she said, "At least you know how to play your instrument." Roxas now glared at his saxophone case. _Look what you got us into now._

"Yeah, but this is Band Camp. _Band Camp,_ Namine! A whole week of hell on earth!"

"Do you even know what they _do _at Band Camp?" Namine asked

"Well… no, but I'm sure it's… painful," he said.

"Don't be ridiculous. Anyways aren't we supposed to be meeting the principle?"

"Fine, let's go," Roxas said. They started walking towards the school as he continued to glare.

"Wow, this school is so big…" Namine gasped, staring up at the brick building. It was actually a very small school, but to Namine and Roxas, it was epic. Just last year they had been living in Twilight Town being homeschooled, but that was before… theaccident. It all seemed so far away now. Now they had just moved to Destiny Island with their father Ryan Harada for a fresh start. Now they were faced with attending public school for the first time in their lives, and more immediately, today was the first day of Destiny High Band Camp.

Namine took a deep breath. Today was a big day. As they walked along the path to the entrance she noticed rows of beautiful white flowers on either side of her. She really thought this could be the right place for her.

Roxas held the glass door open as they entered. Namine's sandals clicked on the shiny white floor.

"This place sure is… clean" Roxas stated.

"It's so fancy," Namine said, "I feel like I shouldn't even be walking on the floor…"

The two headed towards the glass walled office. Behind a counter they saw a young woman with flowing blonde hair typing away at a computer. Roxas cleared his throat.

"Oh, can I help you?" she looked up, smiling.

"I'm Roxas Harada and this is my sister Namine. We're new here and-"

"Oh, right," the woman said, "Xemnas is expecting you. I'm Aurora by the way. If you ever need anything be sure to stop by."

Namine and Roxas crossed the hallway. They found themselves in front of a large blue door inlaid with a silver border and the words "Principal's Office" right in the center. Roxas slowly knocked on the door. No answer. Roxas knocked louder… no answer. Namine had a bad feeling about this.

"I thought he was supposed to be here," Namine said skeptically.

"Well, he's supposed to be expecting us isn't he," Roxas said as he pushed the door open.

"Hey! Wait, Roxas, you can't just barge in!" Namine exclaimed. She followed Roxas trying to stop him.

"You have arrived," said a loud, deep voice from seemingly nowhere. Namine squealed. Behind a black desk in the center of the room, a large black chair slowly swiveled around revealing a tan man with startling gold eyes and unusually styled silver hair.

"I've been waiting for you," The man said ominously. Needless to say this was all a bit unsettling.

*Awkward silence*

"Um, we knocked you know," said Roxas, "Why didn't you answer?"

"Because that would have ruined the effect," said Xemnas, "I need to keep up appearances you know. Street cred and such." This guy was weird…

"You must be Namine and Roxas Harada. Welcome to Destiny Island High School," Xemnas continued.

"Th-thank you Mr.… Principle," Namine stuttered, she was still a little freaked out.

"Please, call me Mr. Xemnas. Here at Destiny High your teachers are your friends and so you will call them by their first names, but to show proper respect you will always use the titles "Mr." or "Miss". This is school policy."

"Oh, okay… Mr. Xemnas… what if they're married though?" asked Namine.

"MR. OR MISS!" Xemnas yelled. Namine jumped.

"Okay!" This guy was really starting to scare her.

"Ahem. Anyways, normally I'd introduce you to the staff and teachers, but unfortunately everyone is very busy preparing for the new school year and mustn't be disturbed. You won't be needing your school uniforms until school begins. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to my… important paperwork," Xemnas said, steering them out of his office.

"GOOD DAY!" The door slammed in their faces.

"…Well that was weird," Namine said, still staring at the door.

"That guy is a freak," Roxas was starting to think he wouldn't mind staying out of trouble this year, "He didn't even tell us where to go."

"Do _you_ want to ask him?" asked Namine.

"No way in he-" Roxas corrected himself, "-heck. It shouldn't be too hard to find."

Namine and Roxas began to wander around looking for the band room. The shimmering white tile floor continued on down the halls. The walls were white as well, and the lockers were gray. All of the classroom doors were blue and silver like Xemnas' and had silver numbers in the center.

_The school colors must be blue and white, _Namine thought. As they continued walking they faintly heard music.

"That must be the band," Roxas said. They followed the music until they reached the teacher's lounge and they peered inside. The sight was rather shocking.

"That's definitely not the band," whispered Namine.

Inside, there were a bunch of people dancing. Off to the side there was a large table with chips, cake, and other refreshments. There was obviously some sort of party going on. Xemnas was singing along to the music. Apparently it was his "favorite song".

"In the night, la da da DAA, coldest story ever to-o-old,

Somewhere far along this road, umm… lost…hmm SOUL!

Doo doo doot doo heartless! HOW COULD YOU BE SO HEARTLE-E-E-ESS? How could you be so heartless?"

"Ah! My EARS," said Roxas, covering said body part with his hands.

"At least he got the last words right," Namine grimaced. Luckily the song didn't last long.

There were also plenty of other people Roxas and Namine didn't recognize.

* * *

"Oh, come on Xaldy, give it a try," said a man with long black hair with silver streaks pulled into a ponytail. He even had a crazy scar and an eye patch. He was holding a cute paper mache piñata shaped like some kind of black creature with yellow eyes.

"Don't call me that," the other man, who just so happened to have thick black dreadlocks and sideburns, said, "I will not take part in your ridiculous games."

"Lame. If I was in your history class, dude, I would seriously kill myself," said Eyepatch, "You know, Ariel handmade this piñata special for the party. The least you could do is attempt to smash it to pieces." Dreadlocks just stared at him.

"Fine, dude, be that way," Eyepatch said and pretended to walk away, but instead of leaving "Xaldy" alone, he snuck behind him and grabbed a dreadlock, wrapping it over his eyes and tying it before handing him a stick.

"Go get 'm tiger!"

"XIGBAR YOU ARE DEAD!" Dreadlocks screamed. Of course, he couldn't see anything, so he swung the stick randomly at Xigbar.

"Ow! Ah! Xaldin's trying to kill me!" Xigbar took off. He picked up the heartless piñata and used it as a human, well heartless, shield. Bam! Candy went flying everywhere.

"Mission Accomplished!" Xigbar shouted, "Now wasn't that fun Xaldy?"

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

* * *

Over at the refreshment table, two women stood talking.

"Aww, there went your piñata," said a brunette with her hair in a twisted ponytail, "and you did such a good job on it."

"Thanks, I am an art teacher after all… and that's what piñatas are _for_ Aerith" said the redhead.

"I know… it's just so violent, that's all," Aerith sighed, "Speaking of violent, I hope Xigbar is alright…"

* * *

"SOMEONE HELP ME!" Xigbar was still running around the room with a crazed Xaldin chasing after him. Unfortunately he made the mistake of running too close to a certain irritated man with long blue hair and a scar in the shape of an "X" on his forehead. He almost made him spill his drink. Big mistake. The blue haired man simply stuck out his foot, causing Xigbar to trip and the blindfolded Xaldin to fall on top of him. He then bent down and grabbed the stick out of Xaldin's hand, snapped it in half and hit both of the men in the head.

"OW!"

"One divided by two equals one-half" he said, dropping the pieces, "I hope you learned your lesson." A man with long blonde hair laughed.

"Nice one Saix," he said, "Is that why everyone passes your class?"

Saix just smirked and resumed drinking his punch.

* * *

Off to the side of the room was a giant man whose light brown hair was styled back in an unnamable fashion. He appeared to be doing some sort of workout routine where he punched and kicked the air several times before dropping down and doing a pushup, all to the beat of the music. For being such a large man he was certainly moving fast. Roxas was currently in awe of his biceps. This was not the kind of guy you wanted to mess with.

* * *

"…Well, once again," Namine said, turning to Roxas, "That was weird."

"Is it just me or do those teachers seem _slightly_ intimidating?" Roxas asked, still looking at the muscle man who was now doing one armed pushups with someone on his back.

"Well… the women seem nice."

"Yeah, I guess." Roxas laughed, "So much for 'preparing for the school year'."

Namine joined in.

"Ah, yes," she said, impersonating Xemnas, "They must not be disturbed. Now I must get back to my… um … paperwork? ...yes, paperwork!" They laughed. Namine suddenly noticed a clock on the wall.

"Ah! We're going to be late!"

Namine and Roxas started running down the halls. Then they realized they still didn't know where they were going. The halls all looked exactly the same.

"Damn it! We're lost," Roxas cursed.

"Roxas! Don't swear!"

"…Sorry Namine," Roxas really tried not to swear around her. She was his little sister after all (by about 2 minutes).

"Hey look," Namine pointed to a blue haired boy walking down the deserted hall. He was carrying a large stack of books. Namine wondered how he could even see around it. The two hurried along and quickly caught up to him.

"Um, are you here for band camp?" Roxas asked him.

"Yeah, I play the dictionary," the boy replied sarcastically as he continued walking, "Of course I'm not."

Roxas tried to stay calm, "Then why are you here?"

"I happen to be delivering the books I ordered for the school library, as I found their selection quite lacking last year," the boy shook his hair out of his face and glanced at Roxas and Namine, "Since you two obviously have no idea where you're going, feel free to follow me."

They didn't really have a choice, so they followed him until they reached the library.

"Zexion!" a young brunette woman called out, "More books? You're the greatest!" She ran out from behind a counter to hug him.

"Ah! No, wait… the books!" He said, referring to the giant stack of books still in his arms. The woman stopped her advance and Zexion let out a deep breath.

The brunette frowned, "Guess I'll just have to get you later." She took the books from Zexion.

"Ooo, I can't wait to read all of these!" the woman exclaimed, she then seemed to notice Namine and Roxas for the first time, "Oh, who are your friends Zexion?"

"How should I know? They were just wandering the school."

"Don't be so rude!"

"It's alright really," Namine said, "I'm Namine Harada."

"And I'm Roxas Harada, we just moved here from Twilight Town."

"Really? That's so exciting! I'm Belle, the librarian. It's so nice to meet you. I bet _this_ guy," Belle said, nodding her head towards Zexion, "didn't even properly introduce himself! He's Zexion, and don't worry, He's really sweet after you get to know him. Look at all the books he brings for the library!"

"Think what you want," Zexion said, but Namine thought he was blushing slightly.

"Anyways, we really need to get going," Roxas said, "We're supposed to be at Band Camp…"

"Oh No! Zexion! What are you doing letting me ramble on like this?" Belle shouted, "Quit being so lazy and take them to the band room right now!"

"I was _going_ to…" Zexion muttered.

"GO, GO, GO!

* * *

Namine and Roxas found themselves once again following Zexion down the halls.

"As you can probably tell, everyone at this school is slightly crazy…" said Zexion, leading the way.

"Yes, we HAVE met Xemnas," Roxas replied.

Zexion smirked, it was the closest thing to a smile they had seen on his face that day, "He's possibly the worst, but beware the rabid fangirls."

"Rabid fangirls?" Namine asked.

"You shouldn't have to worry about them, unless of course they become jealous of you, but Roxas on the other hand… Avoid them at all costs, _especially_ yaoi fangirls… you don't even want to know what they'll do if they get their hands on you…" Zexion shuddered.

Namine's eyes went wide, "Zexion… they didn't get you, did they?"

"…"

"Ah, here we are," Zexion stated, "Your instructor should be in there. Enjoy your first day at Band Camp. Oh, say hi to Axel, Demyx, and Marluxia for me… I actually kind of hope you two survive…"

"Thanks- wait, what? Survive?" Roxas questioned. He looked down the hall, but Zexion was already gone. _Like some kind of ninja…_

"He's probably just trying to freak us out. Well, here we go," Namine said as she opened the door to the band room.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading, please reveiw. :)


	2. Welcome to Band Camp

A/N: I think this chapter is much better than chapter one, but still not that great. Hang in there though.

Disclamer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

_Well, this is it._ Namine ran her fingers over the silver locket around her neck. _I won't let you down._

Namine and Roxas entered the band room. It had gray carpet, and along the plain white walls were rows upon rows of wooden shelves filled with instrument cases. There were blue chairs stacked in the corner, next to racks holding music stands. The most obvious aspect of the room, however, was that it was completely empty except for a single man sitting at a desk in the corner, tapping his foot impatiently. The man had spiky blonde hair and a blank, yet stern expression on his face. His icy blue eyes seemed as though they could pierce right through you.

"Where have you been?" he asked in an accusing tone.

"Uh-um, we got lost, we're really sorry, it _won't_ happen again!" Namine stuttered. Why was everyone at this school so scary?

"Since it's your first day I'll cut you some slack, but don't make a habit out of this. If you're late again don't bother coming."

"Namine and Roxas, correct?" he said, as he handed them nametags.

"That's right," said Roxas.

"And you're Mr.…?" asked Namine.

"My name is Cloud. You may call me Cloud, or Instructor, or preferably Sir. Do not under any circumstances call me "Mr. Cloud'… I swear, Xemnas is on drugs…" Cloud muttered.

_Mr. Cloud does sound pretty gay_… Roxas thought.

Namine made a mental note. _Important: No "Mr. Cloud" if I want to live._

"Here is your music and drill. This year we will be doing 'Simple and Clean', 'Real Emotion', and 'Sanctuary.'"

Namine smiled. She _loved_ those songs.

_Yay!_ Roxas thought sarcastically, _Chick songs…_

"Namine, I understand you have no training in clarinet, so I will need you to stay after each day for personal lessons if you wish to remain in the band."

"Yes Sir!"

"Leave you're instruments in here for now. Just pick a shelf."

Namine looked at the gold inscription on her clarinet case before putting it on a shelf. _I can do this._

"Everyone else is already out on the field. Follow me." With that Cloud started walking.

They went out a small door in the back of the band room which led to the football field. On the field there were exactly 13 people sitting on the grass, talking with friends.

"Is that the whole band?" Roxas asked, shocked.

"Them… and you two." was the response.

"But… the band… it's so small!"

Cloud seemed to take this fact personally. "Its… _elite_…" he mumbled.

The three made their way over to the "crowd".

Cloud went over to the podium (a raised metal platform for the director) and stepped up to make a speech. Everyone went silent.

"How was your summer vacation everyone? Good? Good. It's officially over…now. Welcome to Band Camp." Cloud began running through the schedule.

"You are expected to be here at 9:00 sharp every day, with your instrument, music, drill and a pencil in hand."

"In the mornings we will be out here practicing marching and drill. All you will need is your drill and a pencil."

"At 11:00 you will separate into sections."

"At 11:30 you will have a half an hour for lunch. During this time you are free to leave and eat wherever you want. After lunch you must return to the band room. Today the school has generously provided lunch for us, but after this you will need to make your own arrangements."

"From 12:00-2:00 we will be in the band room practicing the music"

"Then from 2:00-4:00 we'll be on the field once again, putting everything together: music and drill, and running the entire halftime show. If you're still standing after that, you can look forward to waking up the next morning and doing it all over again. Any questions?"

Namine and Roxas blinked several times. This was going to be a long week…

* * *

"First we're going to practice just marching, so get into parade formation." Cloud ordered.

The band members quickly arranged themselves into a 4x4 square. The lines were crooked and there was a hole in the corner because they didn't have enough people. One kid attempted to fix this problem by nervously inching out to stand halfway between the rows.

Cloud face palmed. "No, no, no. Arrange yourselves by instrument; three people per row, five rows. Flutes here, clarinets here, saxophones, brass, and then percussion." Cloud walked along as he lined them up in a 3x5 rectangle.

"Take a look at your neighbors. Now remember them. You'll be next to them in parade formation for the rest of the year."

* * *

Namine looked in front of her. A redheaded girl spun around, her hair swaying with the motion. She smiled a bright smile.

"I'm Kairi," she said, "I play the flute! I'm sure we'll be good friends, it's destiny!"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Namine. Hopefully I'll be playing the clarinet."

"Ah, a new addition to the most _fabulous_ section in all of Destiny Islands!" said a voice from behind her.

Namine turned around and saw a tall guy with light pink hair.

"I'm Marluxia; bass clarinet, senior member, and practically second in command of this little band," he gloated.

Namine was fascinated with his hair. It was so fluffy and it shone under the tropical sunlight… Marluxia seemed to notice.

"Go ahead, touch it," he said, catching her off guard.

Namine hesitantly reached out and touched his hair.

_It's so soft! How does he get it like that?_ Namine was officially jealous.

"Is that your real hair color?" she asked.

"100% natural!" he said with a proud smirk.

There was no one to Namine's left, so next she looked to her right.

Namine gasped. At her side was a _gorgeous_ boy. Long silver hair framed his face and flowed past his shoulders. Namine's gaze followed down to his arms. His muscles weren't large, but they were well defined; he was clearly in great shape. His skin was pale, but looked smooth and silky. It perfectly suited him. Suddenly the boy turned and caught her gaze. She froze, captured by his deep aquamarine eyes. Namine's heart started to race. He slowly raised a hand and brushed back a strand of silver hair from his face. He gave Namine a gentle smile.

…And it was killing her.

"Na-mi-ne?" he asked, deciphering her name tag.

If it was possible her heart beat even faster.

"Y-yes?" she stuttered.

"I'm Riku. Welcome to the clarinets," he said, with another one of those smiles.

Namine felt like she was melting.

Maybe this week wouldn't be so bad after all…

* * *

Roxas was looking in front of him, staring at some kid's spiky brown hair. It was a strange sight; spikes pointed in every direction and seemed to almost defy gravity.

_That's a bit unnatural…_ he thought, when suddenly the brown haired boy turned around, randomly grinning at Roxas.

"Hello neighbor!" the boy said excitedly, "My name is Sora and I'm the loudest trumpet player ever! I'm so happy to be here with all my friends! Have you met Riku or Kairi or Tidus or Selphie or- Do _you_ like band? I LOVE it! Oh, do you have any candy? …I like you! Wanna be friends?" The boy had a cute hopeful expression and, after all that, was still grinning like a dope.

"Umm…" Roxas was in a state of shock.

"SORA! Calm down! You're scaring him!" shouted a girl to Roxas' right. Roxas looked at her. She had long blonde hair that was pulled back into a fluffy ponytail. It seemed as though she had braided random objects into her hair. She also wore a thick blue headband.

"The name's Rikku!" she said, "Spelled with two k's. Not to be confused with Riku spelled with one k." Rikku smiled brilliantly. She had one hand on her hip and the other extended to Roxas. He shook her hand.

_She's really cute…_

"Good to meet you, I'm Roxas."

"Don't worry about Sora. He just had a little too much sugar for breakfast. Right Sora?"

"Yup! FRUIT-LOOPS! Woot! Woot! Woot!" Sora danced around.

Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, you've got a whole year to get used to him!"

_Woot…woot…woot…_ Roxas' brain thought.

"What fun."

"Well, at least it won't be boring," Rikku said, "Anyways, you have _no idea_ how glad I am that you joined band! I thought I was going to be alone when Hayner quit, but now I've got you! We'll be the awesomest saxophone duo ever!"

"Right!" Roxas said with a smile. He held out his fist. Rikku punched it and giggled.

Roxas then turned to his left to meet his other "neighbor", who happened to be a chubby boy with brownish black hair sticking out of a headband.

"Hi there, I'm Pence," he said.

"Roxas, saxophone."

"Can you guess what instrument I play?" Pence asked.

"Umm, that… big instrument?" Roxas hoped this Pence guy didn't think he was calling him fat or something…

"Yeah man, the Tuba!" How'd you guess?"

"Umm…" Luckily Pence continued.

"I also play the trombone for some songs. Well, great meeting you Roxas."

Compared to the others Pence seemed relatively normal, well except for his hair; but then again, strange hair seemed to be the norm around here.

_Three neighbors down, one to go…_

Roxas turned around and had to catch his breath. Right there behind him stood an incredibly striking person. He was thin and muscular, and stood about a foot taller than Roxas. Bold red hair stood out behind him. From above teardrop tattoos, acid green eyes stared him down.

"Hey there Roxas," the redhead said with a smirk.

Roxas was pretty sure his heart had just stopped. His mouth was open slightly in shock and he was breathing heavily.

'Ah! What was that!' he thought, referring to the stopping of the organ that now seemed to be pumping his blood at an alarming speed.

The redhead looked at Roxas curiously. He cleared his throat.

"I _said_. _Hey_… _There_… _Rock_…_sas_. How many times do you want to hear it?"

_Oh Shit… I said that out loud didn't I?_ Roxas blushed.

_Ah! He must think I'm some kind of idiot! Or a deaf idiot or…_

_I'm not saying __**this**__ out loud… am I?_

"Is that your name kid?" a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What?"

"_Roxas_?"

"Y-yeah…"

"You're a strange one Roxas. Ha! I guess you'll fit in here. Name's Axel. I'm a drummer. Got it memorized?"

Roxas nodded awkwardly and quickly turned around.

_What the __**hell**__ was that?_

…_did I have a heart attack?_

"Neighbor! You're back!" Sora grinned.

"…"

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!


	3. Double Time

A/N: I think is the best chapter so far, hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own KH.

* * *

After everyone met their "neighbors", Cloud explained various marching terms like left face, right face, about face, mark time, forward march, halt, etc.

"Alright, now it's time to practice all of the commands," Cloud said, "We're going to play a little game-"

"YAY! A game! I LOVE games!" Sora said, jumping up and down.

"Sora! Back in line! Now, yes, we are going to play a game… don't get used to it. I'm sure you all know how to play Simon Says. So here we go."

"Band, attention!"

Namine put her heels together, toes apart and looked straight ahead.

"And 1!" she shouted.

_Yes, I can do this!_

Then she noticed everyone staring at her.

"…Namine, I didn't say 'Simon Says'"

Namine blushed. She felt like an idiot.

Cloud sighed, "It's alright, just stay in line and try again."

"Simon says left face!"

Everyone turned to the left.

"Simon says right face!"

Everyone turned right.

_I got this…_ thought Namine.

"Simon says forward march!"

Everyone started marching.

"Double time!"

Namine took off run-marching. She ran/marched right into the back of Kairi's head. Thwack.

"Ow!" both girls screamed… Cloud face palmed… Roxas winced.

Namine fell to the ground.

"Namine, are you all right?" Kairi asked, turning around. She gasped. "Namine!"

Namine felt something warm on her face. She raised a shaking hand to her upper lip and then held it out in front of her… red? It was blood!

_Oh God, my nose is bleeding!_

"Riku! Take Namine to the nurse's office."

_Oh no! Not Riku! Not like this. I'm __**bleeding**__!_ Blood dripped to the grass. Namine felt sick.

"Yes Sir," Riku held out his hand to her. Namine took it with her clean hand and he helped her up. They walked off the field together. Namine hid her face with her hand and looked away from him. Tears filled her eyes and she couldn't see where she was going.

_I'm such an idiot…_

She almost walked into the fence surrounding the football field.

"Whoa, careful," Riku reached out and put his hand on her back to lead her through the gate. It gave Namine butterflies in her stomach, but then she remembered how pathetic she was and she let out a sob as the tears flowed from her eyes.

"Hey, Namine, It's alright. Don't cry… look at me,"

Namine turned and looked at Riku. His aqua eyes were full of concern.

"Let me see," he said.

Namine sniffed. Bad idea, now she could taste the blood. She suddenly felt lightheaded… She slowly took her hand away from her face. Her lower lip trembled and tears fell silently down her cheeks. She looked down.

_I look gross, I look ugly, and he's looking at me…_

Riku reached out and gently pushed her hair back. She could feel his fingers stroke her face.

… he was so close to her.

He slowly moved his hand to her nose.

"It's not broken… it's alright," he looked into her eyes. Without thinking, Namine fell into Riku's arms. At first he seemed surprised, but he didn't pull away… he just held her. Her head rested on his shoulder and she cried, making sure not to get any blood on him. She could feel her locket pressed against her chest.

_I'm sorry I let you down._

_

* * *

_

The walk to the nurse's office was a silent one. When they finally reached the door, Riku held it open for Namine. She turned back and looked at him.

"…Thanks," she said, shyly.

"No problem," Riku gave her a soft smile, "And Namine, don't beat yourself up about what happened; it's just your first day. Kairi's used to it anyways. Don't tell anyone, but on Sora's first day he hit Kairi in the back of the head with his trumpet."

Namine laughed softly.

"No really, thank you Riku,"

Riku nodded and began heading back to the football field.

Namine heard someone gasp. "Oh goodness, gracious, look at you! Just one second and I'll get you an ice pack dear," said a woman with pale skin, red lips, and black hair.

Namine looked at a plaque on the wall. It read: "To our dedicated school nurse, Snow White." Namine currently couldn't believe she had just sobbed on the shoulder of a boy she had just met… she sighed, it was only the first day of band camp and she was already injured. Roxas was right, band camp was painful.

* * *

Roxas was worried about Namine. It had looked like she was bleeding.

_I hope she's alright._

He had to focus right now though.

"Halt!"

"Simon says halt!"

Roxas stopped walking. It was down to just him and Axel.

_Hopefully I won't make a fool of myself, no offense Namine,_ he added in his mind.

The commands were starting to get much faster.

_Am I supposed to be able to understand all of this?_ Roxas thought. Somehow his body seemed to obey the commands that he himself could barely make out.

"Left face! Simon says right face! Mark time! Simon says about face! Simon says forward march! Simon says double time!" Cloud shouted from the sideline.

The boys took off at double speed. Roxas was behind Axel, trying to focus while watching Axel's spiky hair bounce up and down (it was quite the distraction).

"HALT!"

Suddenly Axel came to a dead stop.

_Now why does this seem familiar?_ Was all Roxas could think before crashing into Axel, knocking them both to the ground.

_Ugh…Cloud should not be allowed to say "double time"…_

Roxas found himself completely on top of Axel, who was currently looking up at him smiling for some reason. Roxas immediately blushed and climbed off.

"Sorry about that Roxy, looks like you win. Good job,"

"Th-thanks… wait, don't call me Roxy!"

"Roxas, congratulations," said Cloud, "You've earned the right to sit down during music practice today, a reward I'm sure you will greatly appreciate. Now it's time for sectionals. Everyone needs to split up by instrument, choose a place to sit, and look over your music and drill. In a half hour, lunch will be served at the band room. Get to work."

"ROXAS!" Rikku practically tackled Roxas and grabbed his elbow, "Hey saxophone buddy! You were great out there, way to represent! Now come on, I know the greatest spot, but we have to get there before someone else takes it! Let's go!" she said, dragging him behind her.

She stopped in front of an old willow tree near the band room. The branches in front of them bent up in order to make a doorway. Rikku dragged Roxas inside.

"See! It's cool, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Roxas said, tilting his head back and looking up at the leaves cascading around them, "I've never seen a willow tree before…"

"It's the only one on the island. Us band geeks hang out here all the time. I love to climb it," Rikku grabbed a branch and pulled herself up. She then swung to another branch.

"Ha ha, you look like a monkey!"

_It's… cute._

Rikku giggled, "Hey! Don't make me laugh! I'll fall and kill us both! Cuz you know I'd make sure to land on you!"

Roxas walked over to the base of the tree and saw that it was covered in carvings. There were initials, and swear words, and even little drawings. He began climbing up after Rikku.

"So Cloud doesn't care if we slack off?" he asked.

"Well, he doesn't check on us. It's his break time. He usually goes in his office during sectionals, and then goes out for lunch."

Roxas had caught up with Rikku. They were now at the top of the tree.

"This is my favorite place to sit," she said, smiling and dangling her legs back and forth. Strangely the tree seemed to form two seats with a lower branch in between. Roxas sat facing Rikku with his feet on the lower branch. He looked at the tree trunk and saw a large heart in the center with the initials "RT" and "YK" inside it. He ran his fingers over it, suddenly curious.

"Hey Rikku, "RT" isn't you is it?" Roxas teased, smirking.

"No, of course not silly!" she hit him in the arm, "I'm single, thanks for reminding me!"

"Hey! Don't hit me up here, you could kill somebody like that!"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist! Anyways it couldn't be me; my last name is James… Actually "YK" is-" Rikku cut off, "Never mind." She suddenly started climbing down the tree. Roxas could tell she was upset about something, but didn't know why.

"Rikku, if I said something, I'm sorry…" he followed her down.

"No, it's nothing…This is your first time at band camp right? So, I'd better show you how to read drill," She said as she dropped herself down to the ground.

* * *

A/N: This chapter was inspired by when I got hurt at band camp. At the end of a song we were supposed to do this thing called a "Horn Pop", where you put your instrument down and then "snap" it up really fast, while still playing. So, I played the trumpet and stood behind a trombone player and when my instrument went up, the back of his went down, and they collided, busting my lip open. It hurt really bad and there was blood, and no hot guy to walk me to the nurse's office. :(

Thanks for reading, let me know if it sucks. :)


	4. Lunch Time

A/N: So, 7 months later and a new update!

Disclamer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

Namine's stomach grumbled. She was lying on the cot in the nurse's office where she had been ordered to "rest". How long had it been? She was starving now. She sat up and looked at the clock, 11:25; it must be nearly lunch time. She got up and went to the bathroom, which luckily was right across the hall. Namine looked in the mirror at her nose. She had already washed the blood off earlier, and now you could hardly tell that anything had happened. There was just a slight bruise.

"You sure healed up nicely," said a voice behind her. Namine looked in the mirror and saw Kairi.

"Yeah, it's barely bruised… Sorry about running into you earlier."

"That's all right, it was an accident," Kairi said as she washed her hands. "Actually, last year Sora-"

"Let me guess, he hit you in the back of the head with his trumpet?"

Kairi was drying her hands and stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth hung open. "How did you know?"

Namine laughed. "Riku told me this morning."

"Oh, duh!" Kairi put her hand to her forehead. "Anyways, since you're new here and probably don't know anyone, would you like to sit with us? Me, Sora, and Riku?"

"Sure"

"We sit with Tidus and Selphie too. I'm sure you'll like them."

The girls left the restroom and walked towards the band room. The back door was open and everyone was outside. Namine stepped out into the sunlight.

"Whoa, it sure is hot out here," she said.

"It gets worse," Kairi grimaced, "That's why we're inside for music practice next, it's the hottest part of the day."

Underneath a nearby tree, in the shade was a buffet table. All the band members were in line for the free food.

"Hey Sora!" Kairi called.

"Hi Kairi!"

Sora was at the end of the line, so the girls joined him.

"Sora, this is Namine, she'll be joining us for lunch today."

"Hi Namine," he said, reaching out and vigorously shaking her hand.

"Um, hi Sora," Namine said, pulling back the hand he was still shaking.

"Hey guess what! We're having sub sandwiches today! I LOVE subs!" he exclaimed.

"Sora, you love_ everything_ that's edible!"Kairi teased.

"Hey, that's not true!" Sora sounded offended, "I don't like…sauerkraut!"

"NO ONE likes sauerkraut Sora!"

Namine laughed, those two would make an adorable couple.

* * *

Rikku dragged Roxas over to the buffet table by his elbow. Apparently she thought it was supposed to be a handle or something.

"Hey, why don't you just get me a leash?" Roxas said, tired of being dragged around.

"Good idea!"

Roxas gulped… oops.

They got their sandwiches and Rikku skipped off to sit with her friends. Roxas needed a break from all her girly hyperness and figured now was a good time to escape.

_Hmm…where to sit…?_

"Hey you with the almighty chair privileges, come over here."

"Huh?" Roxas turned around and saw Axel looking at him. He walked over.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"The prize for Simon Says this morning." Axel said, Roxas blushed at the memory of being entangled with Axel, "Now sit down, unless your privileged butt is too good to sit on the ground."

Roxas sat to Axel's left. "My privileged butt is just fine thank you very much."

"Hey guys, this is Roxas," Axel said, "This here's Demyx, and pinky over there is Marluxia."

"I resent that," said Marluxia, although he didn't seem to be too upset.

Roxas was about to take a bite of his sandwich when all of the sudden-

"There you are! Thought you could get away from me, didn't you?" Rikku said with her hands on her hips.

"Guys, meet my new friend Roxas!" she said to the two friends she had dragged along with her.

"Ninja master Yuffie! Nice to meet ya!" said the girl on the right with short black hair and a headband. She bent over cutely to shake his hand.

"I'm Yuna. It's a pleasure," said the other girl who was on the left. She had light brown hair and one green eye and one blue. She also seemed generally more calm than the other two.

Roxas noticed the Yuffie girl glance at Axel and then quickly look away.

"Umm…guys I think I left my sandwich over there… and I'm really hungry, so I'm gonna go get it," she said awkwardly, quickly turning and leaving. Axel looked at his sandwich.

"Yes, forgive me, but I really should get back to my food," said Yuna, "Farewell."

"Well, it looks like it's time for me to go Roxas, but you're all mine during music practice!" Rikku waved at him and ran after the other girls.

"Someone's popular..." said Demyx, grinning. The boy had dirty blonde hair styled into some sort of mohawk/mullet thing and bright blue eyes. "So, they're cute, right Roxas?"

Roxas blushed slightly, "I guess."

Axel smacked Demyx on the head. "Shut up Demyx!"

"Ooo, I think Axel's jealous of you Roxy!"

"...or maybe he's jealous of Rikku..." Demyx said, just loud enough that Axel could hear. Axel's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. Marluxia spurted chocolate milk out of his nose laughing.

"What was that?" Roxas asked innocently, his blue eyes open wide.

Axel reached behind his back and grabbed Demyx's arm, twisting it, just out of Roxas' sight.

"It was nothing Roxas, right Demyx?" Axel said with a strained smile on his face.

"R-right, nothing," said Demyx.

"You said _something_," Roxas said, raising an eyebrow.

Axel twisted a little bit harder.

"Ah! Just that... that I think Rikku's really hot! Ow, ow, ow!"exclaimed Demyx. Axel released his arm. "I mean ow-ow!" Demyx covered. "You are so abusive!" he whispered, pouting.

"Huh." _That was odd… _Roxas thought. "Hey, can I ask you guys something?

"Shoot," said Axel.

"Is your hair for real?"

"Of course," said Axel with a smirk, running a hand through his red spiky spikes, "Hair this sexy can't be imitated."

"Mines a wig," said Demyx with a straight face. The guys laughed.

"More like some poor animal that crawled on your head and died..." Marluxia joked.

Axel burst out laughing "Ha! Like a possum or something..."

"Hey, I was joking!" Demyx shouted, "You guys are so mean to me!"

* * *

"Hey guys, this is Namine," Kairi said.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tidus," said a boy with blue eyes and medium length blonde hair with the ends flipped out.

"Selphie!" said the girl sitting next to him, who had green eyes and medium brown hair that was flipped out as well.

"Hi," said Namine, and she, Kairi, and Sora sat down. They all began to eat their subs.

"Mmm! This is SO GOOD!" Sora said as he stuffed half the sandwich in his face.

"Sora! Don't be such a pig in front of our guest!" Kairi said, gesturing at Namine.

"SOWWY" Sora said with a mouthful of chewed food.

"EWW!" shouted Kairi.

Namine laughed, she was really starting to like these people.

Riku walked over carrying a sandwich and sat next to Sora. "Hi guys. Hi Namine," he said.

"Just in time!" said Sora, "Tell Kairi I'm not a pig."

"I would…if you didn't have a piece of turkey stuck to your cheek." Riku smirked. Everyone laughed.

"Hmm… so I do," said Sora, picking it off of his face, "How did you get there? Oh well," he said, popping it into his mouth.

"Well, me and Tidus have to go get ready for music practice," Selphie said, standing up.

"Later," said Tidus, with a wave. They walked into the music room hand in hand.

"Come on Sora, we have to go get ready too!" Kairi said, dragging Sora up.

"Bye guys," Sora said. He blushed as Kairi grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

This left Namine and Riku alone again. Namine's heart started racing, she tried not to think about when she had sobbed on him earlier today. Luckily Riku was acting like nothing strange had happened.

"They're such cute couples," Namine said smiling.

"Oh, Sora and Kairi aren't a couple," Riku said, "Well not technically. You see, me, Kairi, and Sora have always been friends. Over the years, the two of them have gotten really close, but Sora's afraid to ask Kairi out. He doesn't want to ruin their friendship..."

"Oh, wow..."

"It was the same way with Tidus and Selphie. Eventually Selphie got tired of waiting and asked him out. It's a funny story, at least I think so. You should ask her sometime."

"Okay, I will. Thanks for telling me," Namine stood to leave, "See you later Riku."

* * *

Namine entered the band room. There were still a few people sitting around the room, finishing up their lunch

"Hey, so you're all right!" Roxas said, coming up from behind her

"Yeah, just a little bruise. It's not even that sore really."

"That's great! ...Um Namine, what are you supposed to do during music practice?"

"I don't know. I mean, I can't play... so maybe Cloud will tell me what to do..."

"Speak of the devil..." Cloud walked into the room with a pair of dark sunglasses on. He took them off as he walked towards his desk.

"Fun's over," he said, "It's time for music practice. You have exactly one minute to get your instruments and music and arrange yourselves as shown on the board. Starting...now."

Everyone began to rush around, trying to get ready in time. You did not want to be late when Cloud was in charge. Namine hurried over to the shelf her clarinet was on. She had a problem though. She had no idea how to put it together, so she just carried it with her.

"Ten seconds."

"NO!" Sora yelled as he ran in between people, trying to reach his spot in time.

"9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0."

"Yes!" Sora jumped up and down. He had gotten there just in time.

"Marluxia,"

"Yes Sir?"

"Get everyone started on warm-ups. Namine, Olette, please come over here."

Olette and Namine walked up to Cloud. Olette had wavy brown hair with bangs and pretty green eyes.

"Olette, today I want you to take Namine outside or in the hall and help her get started. Show her how to put her clarinet together and help her learn the names of the notes and how to finger them."

"Okay," Olette said, "Let's go in the hall, its cooler."

The girls walked out of the band room and into the hallway. They sat down on the cool tile floor.

"So you've never played clarinet before?"Olette asked.

"Nope, never." Namine replied.

"Wow... and there are only two weeks until the first show!"

"Yeah, I know! I'm going to have to work my butt off!"

Olette laughed, "Yeah, it's going to be a crazy amount of work, but I'm sure you'll do fine. We had definitely better get started though!"

* * *

Back in the band room they had finished the first play through of "Simple and Clean" and Cloud was going around helping people with their various parts. Roxas looked around at all the people who had to stand during music practice. He leaned back in his chair, he was definitely glad to have it.

"Hey Roxas..." Rikku said, smirking, "You wouldn't want to maybe scoot over and share that chair with me, would you?"

Roxas smirked back, "Well, I would, but I don't think Cloud would be too happy about that."

"Oh, come on! I'm exhausted!" Rikku said with a pouty face.

"Sorry"

"Okay then, guess I'll just have to sit on your lap!"

Before Roxas could react, Rikku sat on his lap and leaned back against him. Roxas' face turned a bright red. Rikku let out a deep breath as she relaxed.

"Ahh, that's much better… I'm so sick of standing up."

"Hey Roxas, your face looks like a tomato!" Sora laughed, "You aren't overheated or something, are you?"

Rikku blushed and hopped up. "Sorry, it is a hot day, isn't it? Didn't mean to overheat you Roxas," she giggled.

Cloud came over to the two. "Will you quit fooling around and play your part from measure 52-60, be sure to focus on articulation for this part."

They played through the part. "Good job. Rikku, you need to be a little more clear on the last few notes, and Roxas, that was great. I think you're going to make an excellent addition to our band."

Roxas smiled, "Thanks Sir. I'm actually more worried about the marching part. I mean I've never marched before..."

"Marching and playing is more complicated, but you have a whole week to learn it, so don't start worrying about it yet." Cloud said before moving on to the trumpets.

"Yeah, you're really good Roxas, marching isn't that hard, you'll get the hang of it in no time." said Rikku, with a smile.

"Thanks"

"And if you ever need any help with it, just ask. Although judging by that chair you're sitting in, you've already got the basics down," she giggled.

Olette and Namine walked back into the room. For the next few songs, Namine just fingered along with the music. Soon it was time to head back outside.

* * *

A/N: Please reveiw, let me know what you think. Thanks. :)


	5. Disciplinary Committee

A/N: Its been like a year since I started this story. I never have time to work on it, but I feel the need to finish it no matter how bad it is, lol, and it does seem pretty bad, but I'm gonna stick with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own KH

Warning: There is swearing in this chapter!

* * *

The band headed out to the football field for the last part of the day.

"Normally, we would be running the entire show with music now, but first we need to get just the drill down. So we'll be working on that today. Turn to the first page of your drill and find your position on the field. Now for the first move we'll be walking onto the field to that position. You'll have 32 counts to get there so estimate how large of steps you'll need to take to get there in 32 steps." Cloud said.

The band members lined up at the back of the field and Cloud began to count.

"Remember, on every odd number, you need to be taking a step with your left foot; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8..."

The band started marching forward.

"...29 30 31 32. Stop! Okay, take a look at your drill. Did you make it to your spot? If you didn't make it there, you need to take bigger steps, and if you got there too early, you need to take smaller steps... Namine, you're supposed to be at the other end, next to Riku and Olette... Now everyone head back to the edge of the field, we're going to run this again."

The next two hours went on like that, out under the hot sun. They only got through the first song because they had to redo each move until they got it right. By the end of the day everyone was exhausted.

"Good work everyone. I know it was a mess today, but we'll work that out over the next few days. Overall, you did a great job for the first day. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but we'll be outside unless it's absolutely pouring, or there's lightning, so dress appropriately. Now pack up and get out of here. See you at 9 AM tomorrow, oh, and don't forget to make plans for lunch."

Namine started walking back to the band room. She wiped the sweat off her brow. _Yuck..._

_It's so hot... I'm so tired...and thirsty... _was all she could think. She really just wanted to lie down and go to sleep, but she still had to stay after and practice with Cloud. She caught up with Kairi and everyone.

"How's your nose?" asked Riku.

"Oh, its fine thanks," Namine smiled.

"I'm glad," said Riku, "So how do you feel after your first day?"

"Exhausted actually, and pretty gross..."

Kairi laughed, "Yeah, welcome to band camp. Its either hot and you end up all sweaty and nasty, or its cold and rainy out and you still feel gross and exhausted!"

"Pretty much at the end of the day you just want to take a shower and pass out for a few days," said Sora.

"Ugh, I can't wait. I have to stay after though, for extra lessons."

"Man, that sucks," said Sora.

"Yeah, so I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye Namine."

Namine watched as they went their separate ways.

"Hey wait, Riku," she called. He walked back over to her. She twisted her hair nervously.

"I... I'm sorry about earlier today..." she laughed, "Usually I get to know people a little better before I cry all over them... so sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Riku said with a friendly smile, "Being friends with Kairi and Selphie you get used to chicks crying on you. Usually over a broken nail or something." They laughed. "I'm just glad you weren't seriously hurt."

"Yeah, me too. Thanks Riku... I'll see you tomorrow."

"No prob, see ya," he said before walking away.

Namine sighed. At least he didn't think she was a creep for that whole crying on him deal, or maybe he was just being nice... Either way she headed into the band room and saw that Cloud had set up two chairs and a stand. She went over and took the chair next to him.

"So Olette taught you the names of the notes and how to finger them?"

Namine nodded.

"Alright, today we're going to focus on learning how to actually play all of those notes."

* * *

Roxas had begun walking home. His dad didn't get off work until five, so he couldn't give him a ride, and Roxas didn't feel like sitting in the band room for an hour waiting. He just wanted to get home, take a shower and sleep. So there he was carrying his saxophone case down the road.

_Ugh... its so hot..._

He wiped the sweat off his face with his free hand and looked up. He saw a small group of people up ahead of him. As he got closer, the group started walking towards him. A tall blonde guy wearing a dark beanie and a white sleeveless coat approached him.

"Hey kid, what do you think you're doing around here?"

The guy was holding a blue struggle bat pointed accusingly at Roxas. To his right was a large, muscular guy with dark skin, and to his left was a small girl with pale skin, purple hair, and sharp red eyes. They both had their arms crossed and were also staring at Roxas.

"I'm just going home," Roxas said.

"Yeah, well keep on walking. We don't need any delinquents in our territory."

"Your territory?"

"Yeah, don't ya know? We're the Destiny Island Disciplinary Committee!" the large guy answered.

"I'm the glorious leader of the committee, Seifer. Its our job to keep thugs like you under control," said the blonde arrogantly.

"Yeah, cuz I'm the thug here..." Roxas muttered.

"What was that? You got something to say, you say it kid."

"SPEAK," said the girl.

"It was nothing."

"Good, now you better get moving, or else."

"Okay, I'm going," Roxas said. He wasn't looking for a fight. Besides, these people really weren't worth his time. He began to walk away.

"Hey wait a second, what's this?" Seifer said, gesturing to the saxophone case in Roxas' hand, "An instrument case? Oh, don't tell me you were just at band camp." Seifer had an amused look in his eye.

"So what?"

"Ha, that's so gay! Haha!" Seifer bent over laughing.

"GAY"

"Band camp is only for sissy's ya know!"

"Yeah... wow... I'm just going to be on my way. Have fun disciplining, or whatever."

"Excuse me fag-boy? Do we have a problem here?"

"Yeah fag-boy? Haha, cuz ya know, you're gay, ya know?"

"HOMOSEXUAL"

Roxas clenched his fists. He had about had it with these losers.

"There's no problem, I said I'm leaving."

Suddenly a bright red convertible pulled up to the group. Axel was in the driver's seat. He raised his sunglasses.

"Hey Roxas, want a lift?"

Roxas went around to the passenger's side and climbed in.

"Yeah, that's right, run away fag-boy. You're lucky your boyfriend came to save you."

"See you later sexy," Axel said, blowing a kiss and driving off. Seifer's face turned bright red; he was pissed. He started chasing after the car in rage, but he couldn't keep up.

"Fuck you Axel!" he yelled, giving up and flipping them off.

"I love you too baby!" Axel shouted back, laughing as they drove away.

_This day just keeps getting more and more interesting_ Roxas thought.

"So... I see you've met Destiny Island's 'Discipline Committee'. What do you think?" asked Axel.

"They're a bunch of dumbasses..."

"Pretty much. Seifer's a total douche. He's a raging homophobe, so its easy to piss him off like that. Pretty fun too."

"So I've noticed. His best insult was 'fag-boy'"

Axel laughed, "Typical."

"Did you see his face back there? He looked like he wanted to kill you."

Axel grinned, "Yeah, we don't exactly get along."

"That was hilarious though, you really know how to push his buttons."

"Like I said, easy. You've just gotta insinuate that he's gay or pretend to flirt with him or something and he'll totally lose it."

"Good to know. I just might use that sometime."

"Works like a charm. Anyways, where are we headed?" Axel asked as he flipped the radio to a rock station.

The top was down on the convertible, and Roxas leaned back and let the wind caress his face as he told Axel how to get to his house. He relaxed and listened to the music as the breeze cooled him off. This was much better than walking. Roxas looked over at Axel. The wind was blowing through his bright red spikes as his hand lightly tapped the steering wheel to the beat of the music. His exotic emerald eyes were focused on the road, while his lips absently mouthed the words to the song. Roxas found himself watching Axel get lost in the music. His gaze was drawn to Axel's lips, silently moving with the lyrics. He suddenly got that strange feeling in his chest again and looked away.

"So, I hear you've never been in a band before," Axel's voice brought Roxas back to reality.

"Well I have, just not a marching band. I used to play in a community band back in Twilight Town when I was homeschooled, but we just did concerts, never marched. Probably because most of the band was over 60..."

"I see. Wouldn't want anyone breaking a hip or something." They laughed.

"Nope, so I've never marched before."

"You couldn't tell by the way you did today, you were great."

"Nah, I'm just good at Simon Says"

"True, but tomorrow that chair's gonna be mine," Axel smirked.

"Oh? We'll see about that," Roxas replied.

They had reached Roxas' house, and he climbed out of the car.

"Thanks for the ride."

"Anytime," Axel said with a smile, "See you tomorrow."

"See ya," Roxas smiled back, before heading inside.

He tossed his saxophone in his room before going to take a shower. He turned the faucet to cool and just let the water run over him. It felt amazing after the long hot day. He thought about his day; first day of band camp. It wasn't that bad actually, not really. Well, it was bearable at least. The heat and the work had left him sweaty and exhausted, but he was already making some friends. He thought of Rikku, his bubbly saxophone buddy who already seemed to have attached herself to him, not that he minded. Although she could get annoying, he had to admit... she was really cute. And then there was Demyx, Marluxia, and Axel...the guy who had taken him by surprise from the first sight. They seemed to already be on their way to becoming great friends. He thought of Seifer's gang. They really hated Axel... after today they would probably hate him too. Somehow he had already managed to make enemies today. There was also that time he thought his heart stopped.

_Hmm... maybe I should see a doctor._

* * *

About an hour later, Namine and her dad got home. She was exhausted. When they walked in, she collapsed on the couch, letting out a deep breath.

_I'll just sit here for a minute... so tired..._

The next thing she knew, it was completely dark. She was confused. When she rubbed her eyes and went to stand up, she realized there was a blanket on her...

_Wait... what time is it?_

_12:34?_

_AH! I must have fallen asleep! But I was going to fix supper and practice and..._

Namine sighed... _Oh well..._

She got up and went to her room. As she walked, she realized her whole body was sore... even her face. Her arms and legs ached.

_I didn't realize I was so out of shape... wait... how can a face be sore?_

She went to the bathroom, turned on the light and looked in the mirror... her entire face was pink. So were her arms and her shoulders.

_Great. I knew I was forgetting something today..._

She wondered how such a white person as herself could ever forget sunscreen. Luckily she didn't seem to be burnt that badly. Hopefully it would go away in a few days.

Namine went back to her room. She sat on the edge of her bed and just fell back into it. She looked up into the darkness.

_Today wasn't too bad... I only managed to look like an idiot in front of everyone, and get sunburn, and a bloody nose, and sob on a stranger, a stranger who just happens to be the cutest guy in the band. I really made a fool of myself there... Strange though, he doesn't seem to mind. Maybe everything's fine. Yeah, I bet crazy strangers cry on him all the time_. _Nothing unusual._ She laughed at herself. _No point in worrying about it though, I guess..._

She was worried about other things though. She wasn't sure she would be ready in time for the first show. She was still just learning the notes... but she pushed it from her mind and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

_Because, your love, your love, your love, is my drug..._

_Your love, your love, your love-_

"Hello?"

_"Hey, it's me..."_

"Um hi...why are you calling so late?"

_"Well... you know what we were talking about today during lunch... I think I have an idea,"_

"This couldn't wait until morning?"

_"Sorry, I just thought of it,"_

"You should be sleeping..."

_"I couldn't sleep... but that's beside the point. So will you help me?"_

"Yeah... of course..."

_"Okay then. Tomorrow, I need you to..."_

* * *

A/N: lol, poor Roxas thinks he has a heart condition, I'm sure he'll realize his feelings eventually though. And Namine got off easy with that sunburn, I always got the WORST sunburn at band camp...

Anyways thanks for reading, please reveiw!


	6. Being Subtle

A/N: I'm starting to realize it might be hard to balance this story, I mean for the AkuRoku fans, and the Namiku fans. Most people seem to be only interested in one or the other... The AkuRoku will be coming up sooner, but I hope the Namine and Riku fans will stick around, there will be Namiku eventually, I swear!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything else. I think you should know that by now...

* * *

"Well aren't you a lovely shade of pink today?" asked Roxas, a teasing smirk on his face.

"Gee, thanks," Namine said dryly.

...she was though. Her cheeks, nose and forehead were still a soft pink color from all the sun yesterday. She poured herself a bowl of cereal before sitting across from Roxas.

"Seriously, did you forget sunscreen or something?" he seemed quite amused.

"Nooo, It's just this new look I'm trying out," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, whatever you're doing, it's working," Roxas laughed.

"You always know just how to make me feel better."

Roxas shrugged with an innocent smile, "I try."

Namine sighed. He could be quite the annoying brother sometimes.

* * *

When they arrived at the band room, everyone was gathered inside. Cloud had been right, it was rainy today. It looked completely miserable out.

"I'm sure you've all noticed it's a little wet out, but we'll still be outside today," said Cloud, "When it's show time, we'll be performing rain or shine, so this should help prepare you for that. But first we'll be doing basic marching, so we can do that in the gym."

The band walked across the hall to the gym. It was weird being in the school when it was so empty. You could hear the rain pouring on the roof as it echoed in the large space. The first thing to do was the daily game of Simon Says.

"Ready to bite the dust?" Axel called from behind Roxas.

"Tch, yeah right. You're going down again, just like last time."

"We'll see about that... How about we make this game a little more interesting? You need a ride home again, right? If you win, I'll give you one, and if I win, I get to laugh while you walk home in the pouring rain."

Roxas didn't particularly feel like either walking through the rain, or hanging around the band room for an hour waiting for his dad to get off work. He also didn't want to back down from the challenge.

"You're on. It shouldn't be too hard to beat you. Wasn't yesterday."

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you..."

Cloud began to call out instructions. Namine actually made it through the first few commands. She was still the first out again though, and she made her way to the sidelines.

_I really hate being the first one out... _she thought, as she took a seat and watched the others. Riku was the next to get out, which was strange because last time he was in almost till the end. He came over and sat next to Namine.

"Hey, good job out there," Riku said. At first Namine thought he was joking, but then she noticed the genuine smile on his face.

"Ha, are you kidding me?" Namine laughed, "I suck."

"You did a lot better than yesterday,"

"Yeah, well that's not saying much... besides, I was still the first person out,"

Riku shrugged, "Someone always has to be. If you're really worried about it, maybe I could help you out sometime,"

"Really? That would be great," Namine smiled. She could really use the extra practice, and being with Riku wouldn't be so bad either. He was starting to seem like a really nice guy.

The game continued while they chatted. Eventually it was down to just Roxas and Axel again, and it was getting pretty intense. They marched back and forth across the gym, the commands coming at high speed.

"Simon says halt!" They stopped.

"Hey Roxas, still think you're gonna win?"

"No doubt."

"...Hey who's that guy hitting on your sister?"

"What?" Roxas asked, looking over to where Namine was being chatted up by some silver-headed guy.

_Huh? Who is that?_

"Left face!"

Roxas almost moved to pick up his foot, but caught himself and froze, making him twitch slightly. He had almost messed up, barely stopping himself.

"I saw that Roxy..." said a smirking redhead, quietly.

_I thought I told him not to call me that!_ Roxas twitched again, angrily.

"Simon says right face!"

Roxas missed the turn, as he stood there flustered.

"Looks like someone's walking home in the rain..." Axel said, with that stupid smirk still stuck to his face, "Gotta keep your head in the game."

"You cheated!"

"Now how would I do that?"

"You know how you did it! You distracted me!"

"I don't see how that's cheating... It's not my fault I'm so '_distracting'_" Axel said making air quotes, "You've gotta focus Roxy."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT"

"What? Roxy?"

"YES, THAT"

"Why not?"

"BECAUSE-"

Cloud cleared his throat. Roxas looked over and realized that everyone was watching him and Axel. His face immediately turned red.

"Are you about done?" Cloud asked. Roxas kept his mouth shut. "Well then, cheating or not, Axel won the game. Now it's about time we moved on."

* * *

"Alright, it's time to head outside now," Cloud said. Marching practice was over and everyone was back in the band room.

"I don't want to hear any complaining. Luckily the school has provided us with rain parkas, so everyone grab one and let's go." Cloud picked up one of the 'parkas' and demonstrated how to put it on. He then went outside.

Namine walked up to the bin of parkas and picked one up. It looked like some kind of clear poncho with a hood. She sighed and reluctantly pulled it over her head.

_Well this is quite the fashion statement, _she thought.

She heard someone behind her whistle.

"Lookin' good!" Kairi said laughing.

"Oh, it's not me, it's all the parka," Namine joked.

"Could have fooled me," said Riku, casually. Namine felt herself blush. Did he really just say that? And was it just her or did Riku look adorable in a rain parka?

"These things are ridiculous!" said Sora, his voice sounding strangely muffled. Namine looked over at him and burst out laughing. He had the parka on backwards with the hood pulled up over his face.

"Sora you have it on backwards!" she exclaimed.

"...Oh. But I thought this part was to keep the rain off your face..."

"Wow Sora..." Kairi giggled, shaking her head, "We'd better get out there before Cloud freaks."

* * *

Roxas was still pissed at Axel. He wondered how he had gone from being a pretty cool guy to being a jerk this morning. He saw him walking onto the field—without a rain parka.

"Aren't you going to wear one of the raincoat things?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As attractive as they are, I'm gonna say no."

"You're going to get soaked."

"It's not like I'm gonna melt."

"You're crazy."

"So I've been told. I'm not the only one though," he said, gesturing to Demyx who was also parka-less, currently dancing around in the rain, with his mouth open, trying to catch raindrops on his tongue.

"Don't come crying to me when you catch cold."

Axel scoffed, "That's a myth."

"Whatever," Roxas said, before walking off. The idiots could get themselves soaked if they wanted too.

Cloud was getting impatient with everyone fooling around and started ordering them to hurry up and get to their spots. It was hard to take him serious though. It's difficult to command respect whilst wearing a plastic rain parka.

Once everyone was ready, drill practice went on like usual until suddenly the sky flashed. A bolt of lightning was clearly visible against the dark sky as it illuminated everything around, like turning on a light. At the same exact time as the flash there was a loud crash of thunder. It sounded as if it were right there. Namine gasped in surprise, and Kairi and Selphie were screaming.

"Everyone inside!" ordered Cloud.

* * *

"Unfortunately we will be inside until the lightning stops. Luckily it was almost time for sectionals anyways. Split up into your groups. You can go to various parts of the room, and the hallway," Cloud commanded.

Namine went over to where Riku, Olette, and Marluxia were setting up in the corner of the room.

"That lightning was terrifying!" Olette said quietly. She still seemed a little shaken.

"It must've been really close..." said Riku.

"Did you see Cloud? He didn't even flinch." said Marluxia, suspiciously.

"Seriously?" Namine asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Nope, he didn't react _at all_."

"That's weird... Say, is he always like this? I mean... he seems kind of ... cold."

"Yeah, actually. Now that I think of it, I've been in this band for three years, and I don't think I've ever seen him smile..." Marluxia said, he seemed surprised by his own realization.

"I've always thought he seemed, kind of... broken," said Olette, a look of concern crossing her gentle face.

"That's so sad... I wonder why he's like that." said Namine.

"Who's to say? No one really knows much about him," Marluxia answered.

"It's true," said Riku, "None of us know where he lives, or where he disappears to during lunch, and he never talks about himself, or his past."

"He's an enigma," Marluxia sighed, staring off dreamily, "A man of mystery."

Namine looked over at Cloud. He had pulled off the rain parka, but still wore a blank expressionless face as always. She hadn't noticed before, but his lips seemed almost pulled into a pout. She wondered if she were closer, could she see sadness in his empty eyes? Suddenly she felt the urge to make him smile, to make him happy. She couldn't stand seeing that look on his face, it was making her sick. She wanted to just wash it away.

_Everyone has a back-story... I wonder what pain he carries with him..._

* * *

Meanwhile Rikku had dragged Roxas into the hallway. They passed the percussion group of Axel, Demyx, and Yuffie who were sitting in the lobby. It had started really pouring before they came inside and Roxas noticed that Axel and Demyx were both _completely_ drenched.

_Idiots..._

Demyx was holding a strange stringed instrument in his hands. It looked kind of like a guitar, but not really.

"What is that?" Roxas asked, pointing to the unusual instrument.

Demyx brightened at the question. "It's my electric sitar!" he grinned.

"He plays it during Real Emotion, has a solo at the beginning," said Axel.

"But how does he march with it...?"

"Um he doesn't." said Yuffie, looking at Roxas like he was slow.

Axel smirked, "You didn't notice him standing on the sideline for the whole song?"

"No actually." He heard a chorus of laughter.

"At least I'm not the one currently sitting in a puddle because I was too dumb to wear a raincoat."

"Touché," said Axel, "You're going to be looking just like this soon enough though..."

Roxas remembered the stupid bet. He just glared at Axel. He watched as a drop of water ran down his face before dripping to the floor. Now that he was busy glaring at him, he noticed that Axel's hair was still in its usual spiked position, despite the fact that it was dripping wet and should be plastered to his face and neck.

_That's really weird... Oh right, glare. _Roxas thought.

"Stop undressing me with your eyes," Axel said with that smirk of his, "Seriously, it's making me uncomfortable."

Roxas' face instantly turned red. Demyx tried not to laugh and ended up snorting, with his hand over his mouth and falling off his chair.

Yuffie rolled her eyes, "Perverts..."

Rikku noticed the suddenly intense 'I'm going to kill you' vibe coming from her saxophone buddy. "Well, we should get going. Gotta practice you know!" she said, grabbing Roxas' arm to pull him away before he killed someone.

Yuffie looked at Rikku and gave her a discreet wink. For a second Roxas thought she had been winking at him, but then he saw Rikku wink back... It was the cheesiest thing Roxas had ever seen. She gave an open mouthed smile, while raising her eyebrows, and moving her whole head when she shut her eye.

He burst out laughing as Rikku pulled him down the hall and around the corner.

"What's up with you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Roxas was still laughing. "Your face..."

Rikku looked confused.

"That... was the most ridiculous wink I have ever seen..." he managed to get out between laughs.

"Oh... you noticed?" Rikku had a disappointed look on her face, "I was trying to be subtle..."

"Well if this-" he imitated her wink, "Is subtle, then you've got it down,"

"I do _not_ look like that!" she exclaimed, punching him in the arm.

"Like what?" he asked, making the ridiculous winking face over and over, "I'm just being 'subtle',"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Rikku giggled, "You don't have to make me look like a ruh-tard!"

"Haha..." Rikku hit him again, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Roxas said, smiling.

"Yeah, I thought so." she said. "Soooo... why are you so mad at Axel?"

The smile faded from Roxas' face and was replaced by a scowl. "Because he's a jerk?"

"He was only joking."

"Well, he's not as funny as he thinks."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't be checking him out like that..."

Roxas narrowed his eyes and gave her a death glare. "Not funny."

Rikku laughed it his expression, "I'm sorry, but you so deserved that,"

"I guess you're right. So are we going to practice or not?"

"Meh, I don't really feel like it,"

"Do you ever?" Roxas smirked.

"Hmm..." Rikku put her hand to her chin and looked up as if she were deep in thought. She shrugged, "Not really."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Well... the teachers are here getting ready for the school year aren't they?" Rikku said, a mischievous smile growing on her face.

"What do you have in mind?" asked Roxas.

"Heheheh..."

* * *

A/N: My cousin really winks like Rikku when she's trying to be discreet. lol, it's hilarious...

Also, it's sad when I can see that people are reading this and adding it to their favorites and storyalerts, but no one will leave a single review. Quite sad. :(


	7. Playing House

A/N: I just want to say thank you to the anonymous "Dududu" who left a lovely reveiw and winky face. lol, I love you! :D (Reveiws make me far too happy... I mean I already have the next chapter done...)

I'd like to give a shout out to Namine_Diva, RoxasKalmus and Nekotsubasa too, who reveiwed a long time ago, lol. I really appreciate it! :)

Anyways, in this chapter things start to get deeper. You get to find out a little bit more about whats going on behind the scenes.

Disclaimer: I don'town KH!

* * *

Soon it was time for lunch and Rikku and Roxas were on their way back to the band room.

"Oh!" A realization dawned on Rikku, "Roxas, I almost forgot to tell you. Tomorrow everyone's going to wear the school colors, to boost school spirit. The guys are supposed to wear blue, and the girls are supposed to wear all white. It's a tradition around here. Don't forget to tell your sister, okay?"

"Sure," Roxas said. He looked around the band room and saw a smiling Axel beckoning for him to come over.

_Um. No._ Roxas thought in his head, pretending he didn't see Axel.

"Um, Rikku mind if I sit with you guys today?"

Rikku grinned, "Yay! ...I mean of course not! ...We don't mind, I mean."

He grabbed his sack lunch and followed a skipping Rikku out to the lobby where Yuffie and Yuna were already sitting.

"Hey, you guys remember Roxas, right?" Rikku asked.

Yuna nodded. "Of course we do," said Yuffie.

"Well, he wants to eat with us today!" Rikku exclaimed.

"Awesome, have a seat," said Yuffie, gesturing to the spot beside her.

Rikku and Roxas sat down.

"So, you'll never guess what Roxas and I did during sectionals today,"

Yuffie snickered. Roxas felt his face heating up for about the millionth time that day.

"You are such a pervert!" Rikku shouted, blushing as she smacked Yuffie.

Yuna laughed quietly, her hand over her mouth, "I think she's been spending too much time with Axel and Demyx..."

Yuffie laughed, "It's true, they've corrupted me. You should hear some of the things they say-"

"Anyways! As I was saying, today during sectionals, me and Roxas pranked the teachers!"

"Really? What did you do?" asked Yuffie, curiously.

"Oh, not much..." Roxas said, smirking, "We just got Xigbar locked out of his room when he left, we toilet papered Xaldin's room... We went in Saix's room and moved everything around-"

"Now _that_ was brave," interrupted Yuffie.

"Yeah, Saix is scary..." said Yuna.

"That's not even the best part," said Rikku, "After that we went into Xemnas' office and changed all of his nametags and everything that said his name to read 'Mansex'!"

"That's hilarious!" said Yuffie as she held her sides, laughing.

"We even changed his answering machine and voicemail," said Roxas, "Now if he misses someone's call it will say, 'Hi, you've reached 'Mansex' I'm busy doing...well you know, but if you leave your name and number maybe we could... get together later'."

"Haha... that's great," said Yuna, "You should get someone to call him and leave a freaked out message."

"Wow Yuna, when did you get so naughty?" Rikku teased, and Yuna blushed.

Yuffie laughed, "I think we've finally corrupted her."

* * *

Next was music practice. It was still raining, but that didn't matter. They would be inside anyways. Namine was at her spot between Riku and Olette. She couldn't seem to get one of the notes right and Cloud was off helping someone else. Every time she tried to play it, no sound came out. Riku noticed her struggling.

"High E giving you trouble?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just can't get it..."

"You put your fingers like this," he said, placing his fingers on his clarinet to show her. She tried again, but still no sound came out.

"Here," he said, reaching his hand over and placing it on hers, "You've got to keep them pressed down like this, so it covers the hole, and keep your little finger down on this key."

Namine blushed as Riku's hand pressed softly against hers.

_Oh great_, she thought, _now my face is turning pink isn't it._

Then, to her relief, she remembered that she had sunburn. Her face was already pink. That would save some embarrassment.

_I guess even sunburn has its advantages..._

"Okay, try it now," Riku's voice brought her back from her thoughts. This time when she blew into the clarinet, it made a high pitched screeching sound. Riku winced.

"Sorry!" Namine whispered.

Riku laughed, "It's okay. You just need to have your mouth further on the reed." Namine watched as he licked he lips and placed them on the mouthpiece. "Like this."

She did the same, licking her lips and then moving them farther down on the mouthpiece. She took a deep breath and blew into the clarinet. And amazingly, out came a high E.

Namine smiled, "I got it! Thanks Riku!"

"Anytime," Riku smiled back.

* * *

Roxas stood in his place, trying his best to ignore the certain redhead behind him who had been gloating for the past 15 minutes. He looked at the clock... 12:17. _You've got to be kidding me_, he thought, _there's still like four more hours..._

"Yeah, this chair is so comfy. I mean, I can lean back and relax..."

"Doesn't look like it's gonna stop raining anytime soon...sucks for people who have to walk..."

Roxas couldn't stand it anymore. He turned around to face the source of his annoyance. "Would you shut up already?"

Axel had the chair tilted, leaning back on two legs. "What?" he asked, putting on an innocent face.

"It's a chair, not a throne and I'm sick of hearing about it."

"Sounds like someone's jealous..." Axel muttered to Demyx, who laughed.

_Seriously? _thought Roxas, before simply walking up to Axel, and slightly kicking the seat of his chair, causing him to lose his balance. It seemed like slow motion as Axel fell backwards, reaching out for something to catch himself. He managed to grasp Roxas' shirt, and brought the blonde crashing down on top of him as they fell backwards.

So there they were on the floor again, with Roxas sprawled in an awkward position on top of Axel. Demyx was laughing his ass off.

"I know I'm irresistible, but you really need to learn some self restraint..." said Axel, smirking as always.

Roxas quickly rolled off of Axel and righted himself. He was almost too angry and flustered to speak. "You practically pulled me onto you!"

Axel ignored Roxas' comment, "Seriously, that's the second time you've managed to get on top of me this week."

"I think you're forgetting _both_ times were _your_ fault,"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night,"

"Believe me, this will _not_ help me get to sleep,"

"So, it'll keep you up at night...?" asked Axel in a seductive voice, raising an eyebrow.

"...I'm beginning to see why Seifer hates you."

Those words seemed to have struck a nerve. Axel looked as if Roxas had just slapped him in the face. Roxas immediately regretted saying what he had. Sure Axel had been being a bit of a jerk, but he didn't deserve to have salt rubbed in whatever wound Roxas had touched on. Before he could say anything, however, Cloud came over and reprimanded them for goofing off.

* * *

When music practice was over, it was still storming, which meant back in the gym to run through the show. Eventually, it was the end of the day and everyone was heading home.

Namine had said goodbye to her friends and was on her way to the band room for her daily lessons with Cloud. She had barely set foot in the room, when she saw him. Cloud stood near his desk as he slowly ran a hand through his blonde hair. He sat down in his chair, letting out a shaky breath. That's when Namine saw it. There, when he wasn't guarded, when he thought he was alone... There, when he was no longer wearing the blank, unfeeling mask he wore each day. The tightness of his expression, the tension in is body... the pain behind his eyes. He looked like the gentlest breeze could shatter him to a million pieces. The expression on his face was almost haunting. Namine felt suddenly weak. She knew that face. She had seen it before. She was looking at Cloud, but she was seeing someone else.

_You... look just like..._

She saw Cloud's deep blue eyes turning her way, and she pulled back into the hall before he saw her. Choking back silent sobs, she leaned back against the wall. She felt herself slide down to the floor as the tears rolled down her face.

* * *

Roxas had left the school and was currently walking down the side of the road. And yes, it was still pouring.

_Stupid Axel... stupid bet..._ Roxas glared at the mud as he walked around a puddle.

If it wasn't for that stupid bet this morning, he would probably still be sitting in the band room, bored out of his mind, but dry. He couldn't stand Axel. The jerk had humiliated him countless times today; this was just the icing on the cake. He couldn't believe he had thought Axel was cool guy, decent friend material even. That arrogant attitude of his infuriated Roxas to no end. It didn't make sense though, Axel had seemed really nice yesterday, even saved Roxas' ass at one point.

_He's probably just crazy. I should've realized during that whole Seifer ordeal... Or at least when he was running around without a raincoat... Actually, I should've realized when I saw his hair..._

_Speak of the devil... _thought Roxas, as Axel pulled up beside him. Roxas kept on walking, as if he hadn't seen the car.

"Need a lift?" Axel asked, smiling through his open window. That smile was seriously annoying Roxas.

"Go away," Roxas grumbled, "We had a deal."

Axel laughed, "You didn't seriously think I would make you slog home through the rain did you?"

"I said go away."

"You're going to get soaked."

"It's not like I'm going to melt," Roxas said bitterly, quoting Axel's earlier reasoning. He kept walking as Axel drove beside him.

"You know, stalking is illegal." Roxas said.

Axel rolled his eyes, "Come on, just get in the car."

"You sound like a child abductor."

This gave Axel ideas. He picked up a jolly rancher dangled it out the window. "Oh, you know you want to... I have candy!" Axel said, with an intensely creepy smile.

_...that actually looks kind of goo-_ _Wait. You're not five Roxas, he can't buy you off with candy._

_He'll probably take you back to his house and molest you... Ooh, is that watermelon?_ _No. Look away from the temptation._

"Don't make me kidnap you," said the smirking redhead, with a strange look in his eye.

"Oh no, Stranger Danger!" said Roxas, sarcastically.

"Look, you can be that way if you want, but I'm not about to let you make yourself miserable just because you're pissed."

_Well that made no sense, _thought Roxas.

Axel continued, "I know you want a ride, so just get in."

"...I don't even know you."

"You knew me well enough for a ride yesterday."

That was true. Axel really had helped him out yesterday...

"...Alright," Roxas gave in. He went around and got in the car. It seemed like a completely different place with the top down and the rain falling on the roof, instead of the wind and sunshine of yesterday. The atmosphere in the car felt different too.

"Look, I'm sorry if I was an ass today. I was just messing with you." Axel said.

"It's fine... I was probably overreacting anyways," said Roxas, looking out at the rain.

"Anyways, I'm sorry... It's just too much fun making you blush," Axel smirked, "Not too difficult either, I might add."

Roxas felt himself blush right then. _So he's been tormenting me all day...just to get his jollies by making me blush. Great._

"Good to know _someone_ takes pleasure in my pain," Roxas said overdramatically, glaring out the window.

Axel laughed, "Drama queen."

"Blush-happy freak."

Roxas saw the watermelon jolly rancher. He seized it, shoving it in his mouth and instantly enjoying the juicy flavor.

"You know I never buy jolly ranchers... I found that buried in the seat,"

"..."

Roxas spit it out.

* * *

They had arrived at Roxas' house and he walked up to the door. He reached into his pocket for his keys.

_...Shit._

He felt around for a moment, hoping they would magically appear or something. No such luck. He tried the doorknob in hopes that it might be magically unlocked. Nope. He kicked the door angrily.

"Dammit!"

"Is something wrong?" called Axel, who was still waiting in the driveway.

"Nope, no problem. Maybe I left my window open, just a minute," Roxas said, running around to the back of the house.

_Please be open, please be open, please be open..._

_Fuck my life._

Roxas stood there for a second. He found it ironic that he still wished his window was open, even though that would have meant everything in his room would be soaked. Roxas sighed. He wouldn't mind waiting outside, if it wasn't completely downpouring. Roxas went back out to face the redhead, who was, no doubt, still waiting in his driveway.

"I'm locked out..." he said.

"Oh..." Axel smiled, "Well, you can always come to my house."

_You know what else is ironic..._

"...I thought you would say that."

* * *

So there they were. Roxas followed Axel into his home. It seemed like an average house, kind of on the small side.

"Kitchen's over there, help yourself if you want anything," Axel pointed as he continued walking, "bathroom's just down that hall, on the right."

Axel walked into the living room and sat on the sofa. Roxas headed into the kitchen.

_It's not rude. He did say help yourself, didn't he?_

Roxas took a look around. The first thing he noticed was the abundance of potted plants... they were everywhere. Small pots were scattered across the kitchen counters, and there were larger ones on the floor. There were flowers and leafy plants and some that looked really exotic.

Roxas opened the fridge. He smiled when he spotted the Mountain Dew. He grabbed a can and was feeling pretty generous.

"Hey, you want anything to drink?" he called to Axel.

"Sure, grab me a Dew."

_Huh_, thought Roxas, as he made his way to the living room,_ maybe we actually have something in common..._

On the wall Roxas noticed a picture of Axel and a guy who looked almost exactly like him. They looked so much alike Roxas actually thought they were twins for a second. The other guy had the same unusual green eyes and red hair, though it was shorter and pulled back into a ponytail. He appeared to be a little older than Axel, although he was sticking his tongue out in the photo.

_Looks to have about the same maturity level, _Roxas thought_._

Next to that was a picture of Axel and who he assumed was Axel's mom. The woman had gentle brown eyes and wavy red hair, not bright like Axel's, but a natural red color. She had her arm around Axel and a warm smile on her face. Axel was also smiling brightly. They looked really happy... Something seemed off about the picture though. Roxas spotted an extra hand... There was an extra arm wrapped around the woman's shoulders. He wondered who it was, but the picture was cut off on the right side.

Roxas' thoughts were cut off by Axel calling him into the living room.

"What's up with all the plants?" asked Roxas, "It's like a tropical rainforest in here."

Axel made a face, "Mom likes them."

"So, are you up for a little Call of Duty?" Axel asked, tossing Roxas a controller.

"Hell yes," Roxas said smiling, as he plopped down on the black leather sofa next to Axel.

Maybe this friendship would work out after all.

* * *

"_So, did you do it?"_

"Yeah, I told him"

"_Good, now on to phase two."_

"Did you talk to Demyx?"

"_Yeah, he's onboard. Didn't take much convincing."_

"...Are you sure about this? It's pretty mean..."

"_...Well that's the point. Didn't you see them today? We have to do something... You aren't backing out on me are you?"_

"No, no... Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

Namine was finally back home. Roxas had called to say he was at Axel's house, which Namine thought was unusual. It had seemed like they didn't get along at all today. Anyways, she had made dinner for herself and her dad, being the only one in the family who could really cook.

"How did you guys manage without my cooking last night?" she asked, a curious look on her face.

Her dad laughed and scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit he and Roxas share. "Well, let's just say we learned our lesson," he said, "We're all stocked up on frozen dinners now in case of emergency."

Namine raised an eyebrow, "You tried to cook didn't you?"

"Yeah, I admit it. It may not have been gourmet dining, but don't listen to your brother, it wasn't _that_ bad,"

"Sure Dad," Namine laughed, shaking her head.

_Poor Roxas._

"It had nothing on your cooking though," He smiled, "Well, I've got to get back to work. Thanks for making dinner sweetheart, I really appreciate it."

"No problem Dad. Don't stay up too late now, you hear?" she teased.

"I'll try not to," he smiled before heading off to his office.

He never used to have to bring work home with him. Work used to end when he left the office; his real office, not the new one he had setup in their house. Of course that was before. Now even when he left work, he was still working... Money was tighter now, but Namine also thought maybe work was something that he was clinging to.

Namine sighed. He was trying so hard, to be happy, to keep things together. Was it all just a mask, she wondered. She pushed those thoughts away though, and picked up her clarinet case.

Time to practice, practice, practice.

She played through the songs over and over.

After a while Roxas came through the door. Namine noticed he was smiling.

"Hey Nami,"

"Hey Rox. I heard dad tried cooking last night. How'd that go?"

Roxas made a disgusted face, sticking his tongue out, "Don't remind me, I think I might be sick... I didn't know it was possible to murder meatloaf."

Namine laughed, "I am so, so sorry."

"Please don't ever leave us Nami, we'd die without you!" Roxas said, hugging her tightly.

"Yeah, I know you would," she smiled, "Did you have a good time at Axel's?"

"Yeah, we just played some video games and stuff, ordered pizza."

"I thought you were mad at him today?"

Roxas laughed and scratched the back of his head, "I think I may have been overreacting, you know I can be a little dramatic sometimes,"

"Oh, trust me, I know." Namine teased, "Never thought you'd admit it though."

"Whatever, at least I'm not as burnt as Dad's meatloaf," called Roxas, as he walked down the hall to his room. Even Namine had to laugh at that one.

"Shut up, it's almost gone!" she called after him.

Namine smiled softly. She hadn't seen Roxas this happy in a long time. From the moment he walked in the door he had been smiling. A real smile too, the kind that shows in your eyes, not just your mouth. His whole face had been light up... She didn't even remember the last time he had hugged her. The day with Axel must've been good for him.

Roxas had seemed happy... but still. Sometimes she felt like they were just playing house. She would cook and clean, and everyone would smile and act happy. It was all just pretend though.

She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. She picked up her clarinet and began to practice again. She came to a high E note and remembered Riku helping her out. She smiled at the memory.

_That smile was real wasn't it? It wasn't pretend?_

She really didn't know anymore. She looked at the clock. She hadn't realized it was getting so late. She put her stuff away and shut off the light, and walked down the hallway to her room. She saw the light was still on in her dad's office. She looked in and saw him still at his computer, surrounded by papers. He'd be up late again...

"Goodnight dad..."

"Night," He said, without looking away from the screen.

Namine went into her room and climbed in bed. She remembered the look on Clouds face. This time she couldn't shake the thoughts.

_No one should ever have to wear that look. _

* * *

_A/N_: Confessions: I don't play the clarinet, lol, so if the scene where Riku helped Namine out is all wrong, please forgive me. I just went off of what little I know about playing the clarinet...

PS. I don't think I could ever be one of those writers who could say "I'm not putting up the next chapter until I get enough reveiws!" ...but don't push me, lol, I finally understand why they say that.


	8. Phase Two

A/N: So... funny story. I got locked out of my house. I had gone out on the porch to see how hard it was raining. We got a new doorknob that locks the opposite way of our old one, so I thought it was unlocked... but it wasn't. So I was locked out, barefoot, in my pajamas on the porch. I didn't even have my phone and this was the only day this week that my family was going to be gone all day. At least there was a raincoat on the porch, so I put it on and went to check the other doors (we have like 5, lol). I did mention it was completely pouring, right? Anyways, they were ALL locked and the windows were all shut and locked. Luckily I had a brilliant idea. I went to the window with the air conditioner in it and, thank goodness, it opened. I had to pull up the little table we have outside, so I could climb in over the AC, and through a shelf we have on the other side of the window, lol it was pretty difficult. Yeah, so my morning was pretty exciting. Sorry to ramble, I just found it ironic that this happened right after I wrote about Roxas' getting locked out in the rain. Lol, maybe it's karma or something.

Also, today is my birthday! :D

Anyways, you might not have seen it coming, what with the first chapters being all happy, but this story actually has a lot of sad and serious parts. There's a lot of back-story and most of the characters have their own problems to deal with.

Disclaimer: I don't own KH. Don't sue me.

Warning: Be warned, it's a bit graphic.

x-X-x

_Namine felt the force of impact hit her body. The sound of crunching, scraping metal grated against her eardrums along with the sound of glass shattering. Her body was violently thrown against her seatbelt, her face smashing against the steering wheel. Everything was suddenly still. She could already feel the pain coursing through her, like nothing she had ever felt before, as she struggled to open her eyes. Her head was pounding; she could barely focus on the sight. The car was mangled, wrapped around a tree. She forced herself to look down at her body... Pieces of glass from the shattered windshield had assaulted her, leaving cuts and scratches across her chest. There were several shards still sticking painfully into the wounds. Rain was pouring in through the window, stinging against her broken skin. She looked down further... and saw the gash in her stomach. Blood was everywhere. She was going to be sick. Choking back the bile, she tried to reach for her cell phone. It was in her purse which had been flung across the car. It was just out of her reach. She tried to stretch, but she couldn't move... her legs were pinned._

"_No..." she cried weakly, her voice hoarse and painful. She spit. Blood from another wound had found its way into her mouth and she could taste its sickening metallic flavor. Just a little further... She could almost reach her bag. She was so close, but her hand grabbed only empty air. Her heart was racing with fear._

"_Please..." she begged, a sob escaping her lips, "I don't want to die!" _

_But there was no one there to hear her. She was surrounded by the darkness, hearing only the crash of thunder as she felt herself slipping from consciousness._

The house shook, a rumble of thunder coursing through it with a bright flash of light. Namine sat straight up, sucking in a sharp breath, eyes open wide. Her heart was pounding in her chest, which frantically rose and fell as she hyperventilated. She couldn't breathe. Jumping out of bed, she dashed to the window, gasping for air. Her shaking hands found the white frame, shoving it open. A breeze blew in, rain soaking her body like in the dream. She looked out at the darkness, trying to catch her breath as the water ran down her face. Her hair blonde was soaked, hanging in limp strands around her face. She felt herself go limp, falling to her knees, her body racked by sobs.

It had been months since she had had a nightmare like that. Maybe it was the storm. She hadn't had one since they left Twilight Town. She thought it was over, thought she had put the past behind her. Since they came here everything was supposed to be okay... but it clearly wasn't.

Eventually Namine managed to calm down, and shakily made her way back to bed. She couldn't sleep though, not after that, so she just laid there till morning came and tried not to think.

x-X-x

It was finally morning. Time to play house again. Namine frowned at the slight dark circles forming under her eyes from lack of sleep. She went to her closet to throw on some clothes, and wandered out to the kitchen. She saw Roxas sitting at the table wearing a blue shirt and tan cargo shorts.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you..." he said, "You're supposed to wear white today. Something about school spirit."

"Oh..." Namine yawned.

Roxas looked up from his cereal, "Are you all right Nami? You don't look so good."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep last night," she said, "The storm kept me up."

That was true enough, besides, she didn't want to worry him.

Namine went back to her room to find something white to wear. She decided on her plain white sundress.

x-X-x

"Roxas, I don't see anyone else wearing blue and white..." Namine said, as they walked onto the football field. "Are you sure we were supposed to?"

Roxas scratched his head, "I thought so... that's what Rikku said."

"Huh, maybe she was confused."

"I guess so."

Roxas walked up to Rikku who was wearing a white t-shirt and shorts.

"Hey, I thought you said we were wearing the school colors today?"

"I thought we were," Rikku said, tugging at her white shirt, "I guess not though. Sorry about that, I must've been all mixed up."

"It's alright," Roxas laughed, "I don't know how you came up with that though."

"Heheheh...I dunno," Rikku said, scratching her head awkwardly, "I'm such a scatterbrain sometimes."

"So I've noticed," Roxas said, flashing her trademark ridiculous wink.

"I'm never going to live that down am I?"

"Nope."

x-X-x

Cloud was going to be gone during sectionals today. Everyone had split off into their groups. Roxas and Rikku were still in the band room.

"So, Rikku, where are we going-" Roxas trailed off. Rikku's hands were at her sides as she began pulling up her shirt. Roxas felt his face flush.

"Wh-what are you-"

He watched as the white material slowly trailed upward, revealing golden tanned skin, a toned stomach, and a yellow bikini top. She pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it aside, stepping towards him.

"Ready to have some fun?" she asked, with that mischievous smirk of hers. Roxas swallowed.

x-X-x

Namine was sitting against the wall just outside the band room with Olette, Riku, and Marluxia, just talking. No one had their instruments. Since Cloud was gone everyone was slacking off.

Namine stood up, "I think I'm going to go get a drink-" she was cut off as a cold jet of water hit her chest.

She gasped as the freezing water sprayed her entire body. She stood there in shock.

"WATERFIGHT!" Demyx shouted, jumping out from behind a nearby tree. He was holding a super soaker and grinning. Rikku and Yuffie came up beside him, arms full of water balloons.

"Run!" Riku shouted, and he, Olette and Namine took off running. Marluxia stood his ground.

"That's no way to treat a lady, Demyx! Don't worry Namine, I'll defend your honor!" He called, before he was hit by several water balloons and a spray of water to his face.

"Not. THE. _HAIR_!" Marluxia shouted. His beautiful pink hair was soaked. He stood there, glaring pure death at Demyx.

"Uh-oh..." said Demyx before running after the others.

"DEMYX! YOU ARE _DEAD_!" Marluxia screamed, chasing after him.

Riku, Namine and Olette were still running. Olette tripped and fell to the ground.

"Olette!" Namine shouted.

"Run, save yourselves!" said Olette. Namine looked back just in time to see Olette flinch, as a stream of water sprayed up her back.

"Come on!" said Riku, grabbing Namine's hand and pulling her around the corner of the building. They quickly ducked behind a tree. Demyx ran by, followed by a dripping Marluxia. Marluxia caught up to Demyx and managed to get the water gun from him.

"MUAHAHAHAHA!" laughed Marluxia, spraying Demyx down.

Demyx just grinned "Ah, that feels nice..." he said, running his hands through his hair like he was in the shower.

"Dammit!" said Marluxia, "You're not supposed to _like_ it!"

Namine laughed as Marluxia once again chased after a giggling Demyx.

"I think the coast is clear," said Riku. Namine blushed as she realized they were still holding hands. She pulled away and shyly looked down...

_Oh...OHMYGOD!_

Namine's hands instinctively flew to her chest, arms crossed protectively. She felt her face heating up even more. She started freaking out.

"I-I..." she stuttered. _Ah! This is so embarrassing!_

"What?" Riku asked, looking at Namine funny.

"My-my dress...it's...it's..."

_It's freaking see-through! _she shouted in her head. The thin white material of the dress had become almost clear from the water and now clung to her body in an all too revealing fashion.

"What about it?" Riku asked, looking down at her, "...Oh!" He blushed, looking away.

Namine thought she would die of embarrassment, "Wh-what am I going to..."

Before she could ask, Riku was pulling off his shirt. He handed it to her.

"Here," he said, "It's not much, but you can wear it."

He turned away as she pulled it on over her dress. Luckily it came down almost to her thighs. Namine let out a sigh of relief, then blushed, realizing Riku was now shirtless. She couldn't help but gaze over at him.

"Um...thanks," she said, looking down at her feet.

"Of course," said Riku with a smile, "You didn't think I'd just let you walk around like that did you?"

Namine laughed, "I'd hope not!"

"Now," Riku smirked, his aqua eyes shining, "Let's go get them."

x-X-x

Rikku and Yuffie were coming back for more water balloons.

"Well... that kind of backfired didn't it," said Rikku.

"No shit Sherlock," spat Yuffie, "And where the heck is Roxas?"

"Uh-oh..." said Rikku, a look of worry growing on her face, "Um, Yuffie, the guns are gone..."

Yuffie growled, "Perfect."

"Now!" shouted Riku, jumping around the corner of the building. He and Namine had commandeered the remaining guns and were now launching their assault. They had met up with Olette who came out from behind the nearest tree and began chucking water balloons at the two surprised girls while Riku and Namine sprayed them down.

Rikku screamed and covered her face, ducking behind a nearby bush.

Yuffie just stood there, the water running down her as she turned to face Riku and Namine.

"Revenge is sweet, isn't it Namine?" asked Riku, a cold smirk on his face.

"Um, I guess..." Namine muttered, not liking the sudden change in atmosphere.

Yuffie's fists were clenched tightly at her sides. Droplets of water ran past her dark eyes as she stiffly moved to take a step forward. Before she could however, Rikku came up behind her and grabbed her arm.

"Come on Yuff, time to regroup," she said, pulling the angry girl away.

"Why was she so upset?" Namine asked, looking at Riku, "I mean, they started it. It was her own fault."

"That's what I told her..." Riku leaned against the wall. Silver hair fell over his eyes as he stared off into space.

"...huh?" asked Namine.

Riku seemed to almost wake up. "Oh, sorry. Nothing," he said, shaking his head, "Just zoning out there."

Olette came over to them, her lips pulled into a bright smile. "We sure showed them!" she said, throwing her hands up for high fives.

"Yeah, that was awesome," Namine smiled, slapping Olette's raised hand.

"You've got quite the arm there, Olette," Riku said, hitting her other hand, "You should join the softball team or something."

Olette laughed, "Maybe."

x-X-x

_A few minutes earlier._

Roxas sighed. He was standing, super soaker in hand, near a small faucet in the wall where Rikku had told him to guard the extra water guns and balloons and some buckets of water. His blue eyes scanned the scenery as he tapped his foot impatiently.

_Alright,_ _no one is going to come here..._

He was tired of waiting, so he decided to go join in the action. He heard Demyx shouting and followed he noise.

"Marly that hurt!"

"You deserved it."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"Did NOT!"

"Did too."

"All I did was get you wet!"

"Exactly."

"Axel..." Demyx whined.

The redhead laughed, "Sorry Dem, I'm not getting involved in this one."

Demyx pouted and crossed his arms. "Meanyheads..."

Roxas decided to take advantage of the situation. He snuck up behind them, raising the super soaker and aiming it at Axel. Roxas pulled the trigger and laughed as Axel jumped when the water hit the back of his neck.

Axel turned around. "You did not just do that," he said, a smirk growing on his face.

"Actually, I kind of did." Roxas smirked back.

Axel grinned, "You realize this means war,"

"Bring it,"

"You might want to start running kid," said Marluxia.

Roxas did just that as Axel darted towards him, rapidly catching up. Roxas turned and squirted him in the face as he ran, but it didn't seem to deter him at all. The gun was soon out of water and he dropped it, still running as fast as he could.

_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all..._

Roxas felt arms wrapping around his waist and chest as Axel caught him.

"Thought you could get away, didn't you?" the redhead whispered in a teasing voice. Roxas' heart was racing. He tried to escape the older boy's grasp, but he couldn't move.

"Demyx!" Axel shouted. Demyx appeared out of nowhere, a large bucket of water in his hands, as he rushed towards them.

_Oh crap..._

Roxas struggled to free himself as Demyx got closer and closer, but to no avail. Demyx reached them and flung the water at Roxas. In the last possible second, Roxas dropped himself to the ground and the water hit Axel straight on. Axel's mouth hung open in shock. He was completely drenched. Demyx was cracking up. Roxas took advantage of the moment and ran.

Axel had grabbed another bucket and wasn't far behind. Roxas knew he would catch up soon if he didn't do something. He decided to run to the school entrance. He grabbed at the handle of the double doors and yanked... they were locked. Axel had caught up with him and he was backed into a corner.

"Nowhere left to go now," said Axel, smirking. Beads of water dripped off his face and body. "Nice move back there, I wasn't expecting that."

"Clearly," said Roxas still smirking back.

Axel laughed, "Smart ass. You're trapped now though. That little move can't save you this time." He said, stepping forward.

Roxas inched back into the corner until he felt himself hit the wall. He was out of options. At this point he couldn't get past Axel, and he knew ducking wouldn't work this time. Axel continued walking forward until he was right next to Roxas. Uncomfortably close actually.

"You can't escape..." he whispered.

"Just do it already."

Axel smirked, and lifted the bucket over Roxas' head, slowly dumping it over him. Roxas squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a breath as the freezing water rushed over his body. Roxas' eyes opened wide as Axel placed his hands against the walls on either side of him, acid green eyes staring into his.

"Play with fire... and you're gonna get burnt." he said in a husky voice.

Roxas was left leaning against the wall, heart still pounding as Axel casually walked away. Roxas' felt his face heating up.

_Where does he get off doing that? ...that was humiliating!_

_He is so full of himself!_

x-X-x

A/N: When I was writing the part about the lightning waking Namine up, the power flashed at my house, scared me to death, lol... You probably noticed, but I decided I don't really like the way linebreaks look, so I'm trying a new divider. This chapter was inspired by the slut in my band who purposely wore a white shirt the day we had a waterfight, yeah, she's a whore. lol, sorry. Anyways thanks for reading, please reveiw!


	9. Getting Serious

A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews! And for all the author alerts and story alerts, I really wasn't expecting so many! Well it's really not _that_ many. Personally I really don't think my writing is all that great, so it's good to get some encouragement every now and then. Lol, I'm glad you like it though.

Disclaimer: I don't own KH... yet.

**x-X-x**

Back in front of the band room, the flutes and trumpets had joined the commotion, and it had turned into an all out war zone. Yuna and Pence had escaped and shut themselves in the band room, leaving everyone else stuck outside.

Kairi screamed and covered her face with her hands as a water balloon flew straight at her.

"No!" Sora shouted, diving in front of her, the balloon hitting him in the chest. "Don't worry Kairi, I'll protect you!" he declared, a look of determination on his face.

"Oh Sora, that was so sweet of you!" Kairi beamed, giving him a hug that was getting her wet anyways. Sora's face turned bright red as Kairi squeezed him.

"See, why can't you be more like Sora? Protect me!" Selphie shouted, squirting Tidus in the face with a water gun.

"Ah! You don't need protecting!" Tidus shouted, attempting to block the water with his hands.

Selphie squealed as an incoming water balloon hit her in the back. "Oh, I don't, do I?" she asked, glaring at Tidus.

"Don't worry baby, I'll get him!" said Tidus, picking up a water balloon and hurling it towards their attacker.

_Splash_

Tidus froze. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. He had been aiming at Demyx, but the balloon had not hit the blonde he was hoping for.

Cloud wiped his forehead with the back of his hand as the water dripped down his face. The band had instantly gone silent.

"... I trusted you today... and this is how you repay me?"

Everyone looked down at their feet guiltily.

"I can't believe-" Cloud stopped himself, swallowing his anger. He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Alright. I can understand. It is really hot today... But I'm disappointed in all of you. We only have two more days to get everything right, we can't afford to waste time. So, this was your lunch time. You have five minutes to eat and then I want you back in your sections. I'll be coming around to make sure you're working. And we'll be making up those five minutes at the end of the day, understood?"

"Yes Sir!"

Cloud made his way over to the door, where Yuna hesitantly pushed it open and quickly stepped out of his way. Everyone slowly began to move and silently got their lunches. The rest of the day was quiet, filled with hard work.

x-X-x

It was 4:07. Cloud hadn't lied about making up that extra time. Roxas was on his way to the parking lot. He was riding home with Axel again.

Suddenly a blonde blur rushed past him. "Shotgun!" shouted a grinning Demyx, running towards Axel's car. He was carrying several of the water guns used today. Roxas assumed they must be his.

Axel laughed, "Looks like you're riding in the back. Him and Marluxia are coming over today. You should join us."

Roxas thought about it. He wasn't looking forward to going back to his empty house.

_May as well, _he thought. It would be nice to have people to hang out with again. He really missed his friends from Twilight Town... but he didn't want to think about that.

"Dem, are those empty?"

"...yes." Demyx said, as innocently as he could. The ridiculous grin kind of gave him away.

"Right... they're going in the trunk."

Demyx pouted, "But, but Axel!"

Axel smirked, "Actually, why don't you go ride with Marluxia?"

Demyx smirked evilly, "I like the way you think," he said, before taking off.

"Hmm... maybe that was a little harsh," said Axel.

Roxas shrugged, "I'm sure he'll be fine. It won't be the first time he's gotten wet today."

Axel laughed, "No, I meant to Demyx. Marluxia's gonna kill him."

x-X-x

Namine was nervous about her lessons with Cloud today. She felt incredibly guilty for what had happened earlier.

_Well, it wasn't our fault... we were attacked,_ she thought ..._Not that we were doing anything before that though._

Either way, she was done slacking off. It was time to get to work if she wanted to be ready for the first show.

"Um... I'm really sorry, for messing around today..." she said, sitting down next to Cloud, "It won't ever happen again. I'm ready to get serious now."

Cloud had a sincere look on his face. "It's alright... I apologize if I've been pushing too hard. I just want to make sure everyone is ready."

_He must really care about this..._

Before, Namine had thought he was just doing his job and was kind of apathetic to the idea, but now she realized there was more. He really wanted them to do well.

_Maybe that's why he seems strict and cold sometimes... This must be important to him._

Namine wondered how he had come to be a high school band teacher. He didn't exactly seem the type.

"Cloud... how did you decide you wanted to teach band?"

Cloud's face softened, "That's a long story..." The look disappeared as soon as it came however, being replaced by his usual blank expression. "We need to get started now. You said you were ready to get serious, correct?"

"Yes,"

"Then let's begin."

x-X-x

"Well, that could have gone better..." said Rikku, sitting on the end of Yuna's bed.

Yuffie groaned, "You think? She was supposed to go crying home in _shame_, not WEAR his SHIRT! I can't believe he did that..."

"You know, I think we may have actually brought them closer together..."

"Why didn't you guys tell me you were planning this?" Yuna interrupted softly, she seemed hurt.

"We knew you wouldn't approve," said Yuffie.

"I guess you're right... I could've told you this wouldn't work out though. What were you thinking?"

"We had to do _something_,"

"Next time _tell me_ what you're going to do."

"Why? So you can try and stop us?"

"No! So I can _help_ you!" Yuna exclaimed. The two girls stared at their usually quiet friend in surprise. "Yuffie, we've been friends for four years... why can't you trust me?" Her blue and green eyes shimmered, wet with tears threatening to fall any moment.

Yuffie felt a sharp pang of guilt in her chest. "Yuna I _do_ trust you..."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't want to drag you into this mess... we thought you wouldn't want to-"

"Yuff, you're one of my best friends. I'd do anything to help you, don't you know that?"

Yuffie looked at her friend. It was clear how much she cared. "I do know that. I...I'm sorry."

"Aw, Yunie, don't be sad," Rikku said, pulling the brunette into a tight hug, "Forgive us?"

Yuna smiled and nodded.

"Next time you can help out!"

"Next time?" asked Yuna. "You're not done?"

"Today didn't exactly... go as planned," said Yuffie, "But we _can't_ give up. I... I'm not ready to let go, Yuna..."

Yuffie leaned back and closed her eyes.

"I still love him."

* * *

_Yuffie was sitting on a high up branch. She looked over at him. A soft breeze was blowing through the night air, rustling his beautiful silver hair. His aqua eyes were gazing at her as if to see what she was thinking. The branches of the willow tree swayed slightly as the delicate strands of leaves swayed around them._

"_Riku?" _

"_Yes?"_

_She paused, "...do you love me?"_

_A look of surprise crossed his face. "Of course I do Yuffie,"_

"_...would you protect me? Keep me safe?"_

"_Of course I would,"_

"_Promise?"_

"_What?"_

"_Promise me," her voice was soft, but urgent._

"_Yuffie, I promise," he whispered, pulling her into his arms. She closed her eyes as she felt his warm embrace surround her. "I'll never let anyone hurt you..."_

_She felt her eyes begin to water, a single tear escaping to slide down her cheek as she turned so he wouldn't see. He pulled a small pocket knife from his jeans and began to carve something into the tree._

"_Look," he said, "This means I'll always be here for you. Forever. You don't ever have to worry, okay?"_

_A few strands of moonlight streamed through the leafy canopy to light his face as he gave her a small smile._

"_...I love you Riku,"_

"_I love you too."_

* * *

She remembered that moment, feeling so loved... so safe. She would do anything to get it back.

Now his words were bitter. He was getting too close to that girl. She saw it all, that embrace on the first day, all the kind words. Every smile, every little touch, it was poison to Yuffie. It was sickening.

"Who does that Namine chick think she is? She has no right to be all over him, she doesn't even know him! He's _mine_... and I'm getting him back!"

_I haven't forgotten your promise Riku._

x-X-x

"I still can't believe he made Demyx walk all the way to your house..." said Roxas.

"I can," said Axel, "But I can't believe he made Demyx watch while he drove over his water guns, the poor kid was seriously crying."

"Feel bad yet?"

"...a little, I guess I'll buy him some new ones."

They arrived at Roxas' house.

"I had a great time today... thanks."

"Yeah, we'll have to do it again sometime."

"Well, see you tomorrow."

"See ya."

Roxas walked in the front door and found Namine asleep at the kitchen table. Her head was rested on her arms, which were folded across the table. She still held her clarinet tightly in one hand.

Roxas sighed. She must have been practicing for hours.

"Namine," he said, softly shaking her shoulder.

She slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes, "...huh?"

"You fell asleep practicing," he said.

"...oh... I didn't realize..." she was still out of it.

"You should get some rest sleepyhead," Roxas teased, ruffling her hair.

"Right," Namine smiled sheepishly, before walking down the hall on unsteady feet. She still wasn't fully awake, so she placed her hand on the wall to steady herself as she made her way to her room. She collapsed in her bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

_It was quiet. Namine didn't know where she was. The room looked familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She realized she was lying down, her body clad in a beautiful blue dress. Looking around, all she could see were dark shadowy figures. The quiet sounds of whimpering and sniffling could be heard in the background. There was an overwhelming sense of sadness and grief. Namine couldn't remember where she was, but she knew she didn't like this place. She sensed her brother among the shadows. He just sat there, blue eyes staring at nothing. She tried to move, to ask him what was going on, but she couldn't, her body seemed frozen in place. Her heart began to race as she panicked. She screamed, but no voice came._

"_Roxas! Help me!"_

_But he just sat there, staring, in his own little world. _

"_What's wrong with you? Wake up!"_

_The whimpers in the background had turned into wails and sobs. Namine was terrified; she needed to get out of this place. In her mind she was thrashing around, flailing her arms and legs, but her limbs refused to move._

"_Someone! Please!"_

_Out of the shadows, something stepped forward. Namine could see it out of the corner of her eye. She tried to turn her neck to look at it, but her head remained frozen, staring up at the plain white ceiling tiles. The figure kept getting closer, until it leaned over her._

_...It was Cloud, and he was wearing that horrible broken look on his face. He just stared at her. A single tear slid down his cheek._

"_Don't...don't look at me like that," _

_She couldn't take that look. She wanted to comfort him. Wanted to reach up and wipe the tears from his face. But she remained paralyzed, her delicate hands lying clasped on her chest._

"_Please don't cry!"_

_She watched as the tears fell from his beautiful blue eyes, dripping onto her lifeless body. He was speaking, saying something to her, but no sound came from his lips._

"_I can't hear you!" she screamed desperately. But he couldn't hear her._

_It felt like she was crying, but the tears just wouldn't come. She realized her lungs weren't moving._

_She saw his lips form the words 'I love you', a look of pure agony on his face before he reached up, pulling something down over her._

_Everything was plunged into darkness and silence. Suddenly she longed for the sounds of moaning and the plain white tiles to return, anything was better than this._

"_No! Don't leave me! Please don't leave me!" she silently pleaded._

_She struggled to move her body, even as she knew it was useless. She felt the numbness taking over. It seemed the only part of her that could move was her heart, rapidly pounding in her chest as fear overwhelmed her._

"Don't leave me!"

Namine gasped, her eyes flashing open. Her skin was soaked with a layer of sweat. She threw the covers off, the lingering feeling of being trapped in darkness still with her. She jumped out of bed and turned the light on. Her heart was still racing as she sat down at the end of her bed.

_Just breathe... In and out. In and out._ She was relieved by the familiar feel of air flowing down her throat, her lungs moving up and down. She shuddered at the thought of being paralyzed. Holding her hands up in front of her, she slowly clenched her fingers together. She closed her eyes, letting out a sigh of relief.

Her shaking hand slowly rose to her face, feeling the dampness resting on her cheeks.

_...tears._

They began to fall again.

_I can't go back to this... not now..._

* * *

A/N: Poor Namine. That was a pretty messed up dream there at the end. The symbolism seems pretty obvious to me, lol, but then again, I am the writer. I already know what happened, what will happen, and what I'm trying to imply. If anyone has any idea what it's supposed to mean, let me know. I'd love to hear what you think.

Anyways, now you know who was plotting in the earlier chapters. You could have probably figured that out in the last chapter though, lol. And that mysterious carving in the willow tree has been explained.

Yuffie and Riku... lol, who knew? I did drop a few subtle hints. Or at least tried to. I've been hinting about a lot of things in this story, I hope someone's been catching them.

Don't worry, it'll all make sense eventually. At least that's the plan.

Hope you liked the chapter. Drop me a line if you want. Thanks for reading :)


	10. Close Call

A/N: So.. I know its been a while. You probably completely forgot about this story, right? Sorry.. I've just been really busy. And I actually HAVE been busy this time, lol. Anyways, better late than never, right?

Disclamer: I don't own KH.

Warnings: Swearing

x-X-x

Namine dragged herself out of bed. She was still exhausted.

_Only two more days..._ she thought to herself. Then she could sleep... well, she could try at least.

The fact that there were only two days left of band camp left seemed both good and bad to Namine. Good, because she needed to rest, but bad because she still didn't feel confident with her abilities. Everyone else, however, seemed to be doing much better. The show was finally starting to really come together. Morning marching and drill went off without a hitch.

Everyone was making their way off the field when Rikku exclaimed, "Oh no! I forgot something!"

She turned around and began moving against the crowd. She was bumping into lots of people on her way.

"Oops, sorry Riku," she said with a bashful smile after brushing against him. She then ran back to the field.

Yuna and Yuffie greeted her outside the band room where they had been waiting.

"Did you get what you 'forgot'?" Yuffie asked.

"Yup, got it right here," Rikku answered, flashing a confident smile as she retrieved a cell phone from her pocket and held it up.

"Perfect," Yuffie reached for the phone, "Now if you give it to me-"

"Wait," Rikku pulled her hand just out of reach, "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I'm sure. We need this option," Yuffie said looking Rikku in the eye, her expression unwavering.

Rikku hesitated, eyes taking in Yuffie's stern resolve, "...As long as you're sure."

Yuna pursed her lips. "...Isn't she still in the hospital?"

"He won't be able to refuse a call from her," Yuffie replied as she continued pressing buttons on the phone. Yuna frowned.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine, and he'll never find out," Yuffie reassured, "Now get this back to him Rikku."

x-X-x

Namine and Riku were heading back to the band room after sectionals. Marluxia and Olette had gone on ahead of them. Namine raised a hand to her mouth as a long yawn escaped her lips.

"...Are you okay Namine?" Riku asked, a look of concern crossing his face, "You look really tired."

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired. All this marching's really getting to me I guess."

"I see... You have to be careful though, don't push yourself too hard."

"I won't... but I have to be ready for the first show. After tomorrow I can rest anyways."

"Yeah, I guess so. This week's gone by so fast."

"I know, I can't believe it's almost over..." Namine replied, as they continued slowly walking together, "Honestly, I'm probably going to miss it."

"Yeah, me too," said Riku, "I know I'm going to miss hanging out with the clarinets all day long."

"I'll miss it too... The sunburn, not so much," Namine smiled.

Riku chuckled. He smiled as he pulled out his phone. "Could I get your numb -"

Suddenly his phone started ringing. He seemed surprised as he looked at the screen. He furrowed his brow. "I'm sorry, I have to take this."

"Okay, I'll see you later then," Namine said, before continuing on her way. Her thoughts were racing. She wondered who had called that made Riku suddenly become so serious. She was a little concerned, but that wasn't the main thing on her mind right now.

_He was going to ask for my phone number!_

Namine was so excited she could almost burst. A small smile graced her face as she entered the band room.

x-X-x

Yuffie was practicing her music with Demyx and Axel in the school lobby when her phone vibrated; a text.

Yuna: _Code Green, be prepared_

Yuffie headed for the bathroom, and went in one of the stalls before texting back.

Yuffie: _Let me know when_

Yuffie leaned against the stall wall for a moment, waiting, before she received the text.

Yuna: _NOW_

Yuffie immediately hit the speed dial button on her phone and held it to her ear. It began ringing. After only a few seconds someone picked up on the other end. The voice was urgent.

"Mom?"

Yuffie remained silent.

"Hello? Mom? Are you there? Are you alright? ...Answer me, please!"

Yuffie stood there, frozen. She could hear the fear in his voice. This had been a bad idea... this was downright cruel. Her dark eyes began to well up, and she swallowed painfully before clicking her phone shut.

"Dammit!" She slammed her fist against the stall, her voice hoarse, "I fucked up again..."

She could see him now, teeth clenched, knuckles turning white, his breaths heavy. And the worst part, the look in his beautiful turquoise eyes as his long silver hair fell over them. And it was all her fault.

_...I just keep hurting him don't I? What was I even thinking?_

Someone was coming. The door to the bathroom opened. Yuffie stepped up on the toilet, bracing her hands against the sides of the stall so she wouldn't be seen as the footsteps got closer. The other girl entered a stall. Yuffie was planning to wait for whoever it was to leave, but her phone went off, Riku's name appearing on the screen.

_Fuck..._

She quickly shut her phone off, flushed the toilet, and exited the stall. Just her luck, the other girl was leaving at the same time. Yuffie quickly went to the faucet and made to wash her hands, when she saw a flash of blonde in the mirror.

_Namine._

She continued washing her hands as innocent blue eyes focused on her. The girl was smiling.

"You're Yuffie, right?" she asked, beginning to wash her hands as well. Yuffie nodded.

Namine smiled, "I'm Namine."

"I know." Yuffie kept her eyes on her hands.

"Well, it's nice to actually meet you."

"..." Yuffie began to scrub harder, continuing to focus on washing her hands.

"So how are you?"

"Fine." Yuffie answered, devoid of emotion.

"Oh, well, I hope your day gets better," Namine said, still smiling before she left, happily humming "Simple and Clean". As the door shut behind her, Yuffie could barely contain her hatred. She shut off the faucet and angrily tore off a sheet of paper towel.

"That's right, keep on smiling. You won't be for long."

She looked down and briefly noticed she had rubbed her hands red.

x-X-x

It was time for lunch and Namine was sitting in the band room with Sora, Kairi, Tidus and Selphie.

"Where's Riku?" Sora asked.

"I don't know..." Namine replied. "He said he had to take a call on the way back here. He seemed a little upset or something."

Sora and Kairi exchanged a quick glance. Sora frowned.

"Maybe we should go check on him Sora..." said Kairi, a look of concern on her face.

_I wonder if they know something..._

Namine got up to leave. "I'll go see if he's still talking."

She stepped out into the heat of the tropical day and began heading in the direction she had come from earlier. She turned the corner of the building and spotted Riku. He was leaned up against the wall with his phone up to his ear. He was clutching it so tightly in his hand, his knuckles were growing pale. He didn't notice her approach until she was right next to him.

Riku groaned, "It's not working..."

"What's not working?"

Riku sighed and sat down on the ground with his back against the wall. His knees were bent up in front of him, and his arms rested on them. Silver hair fell forward, shading his face as he stared ahead. Namine knelt down next to him.

"My mom, she called me... but she didn't answer... and now I can't get a hold of her," Riku said quietly, still staring forward, "...She's in the hospital Namine."

He bit his lip and looked away, "I'm afraid... something might have happened..."

Namine swallowed, and kept listening.

"She didn't answer my call, and now it keeps going straight to voicemail."

Namine could see how worried he was... he must really care for his mother. She felt terrible for him. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on his to comfort him.

"I'm sure everything is fine. She probably just accidentally called you and then her phone died. So, you don't have to be worried," she said.

Riku took a deep breath, "I hope you're right. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to her..."

Namine looked down as she felt tears threatening to surface. They sat there for a few moments.

"Are you going to be alright?" Namine asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine... thank you."

Namine stood up. "Your friends were worried about you. You should come eat something," she said, extending a hand to him.

Riku took her hand and she tried to pull him up, but she wasn't strong enough and ended up falling backwards onto the ground with a laugh.

Riku laughed softly and held his hand out for her. She grasped it and was lifted up in a second. Namine realized that he had pulled her quite close to him.

"You make it look so easy," she said.

Riku laughed, "I am almost twice your size. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm great." Namine smiled.

"Then let's go back," Riku said with a soft smile.

x-X-x

Yuffie closed her eyes and ran a hand through her short, dark hair. She shook her head. "We need to get that phone back... we have to change it back before he realizes it's not the right number!"

"Calm down Yuff, it's no problem. I'll just snatch it back again," Rikku said.

"Hurry, if he checks the number he's been calling, I'm dead..."

x-X-x

Soon it was the end of the day. The band was out on the field, running through the halftime show. Axel was marching in Roxas' line of sight. He was playing snare drum on this song. A heavy metal harness rested on his shoulders, holding the drum in front of him. His drumsticks tapped to a complicated beat, as he looked straight ahead. Roxas thought it was kind of amusing how serious Axel was when he was marching, as opposed to the rest of the time. He watched him take each step stiffly, smoothly, and perfectly, as the music reached a crescendo, increasing in volume until the abrupt final note, on which everyone froze.

"That was great. Five minute water break, and then we just have the last song to go through," Cloud announced. Normally they wouldn't be taking a break, but today was an incredibly hot day and Cloud made sure to give them a break after every song.

Axel stayed in his place, playing to some beat, not the performance music; Roxas wasn't sure what it was. He continued watching Axel. The once serious green eyes caught the blonde's gaze however, and his lips curled into a smirk. He did some trick where he tossed a drumstick in the air, spinning, before he caught it and continued to play.

"You can quit showing off now," Roxas said.

"It's not polite to stare you know," Axel teased.

Roxas blushed, "I was _not_ staring. I was wondering what you were playing."

"Nothing special, just something I made up. And that was not showing off by the way. _This_ is showing off."

Axel began juggling his drumsticks, then tossed them over his shoulders and caught them behind his back, before tapping the snare drum twice and pretending to hit a cymbal off to the side, making the crash noise with his mouth.

Roxas laughed, "I'm impressed. That's probably the cheesiest thing I've ever seen... Wait, no, Rikku's winking still tops that."

"Rikku's winking?" Axel asked.

"You haven't seen it? It's hilarious... this is how she tries to be subtle," Roxas said, as he imitated Rikku's wink. He opened his mouth wide smiling, raised his eyebrows, and then moved his entire head down as he winked.

Axel burst out laughing. "That's great..." He pulled the drum harness off and placed it on the ground, sitting down next to Roxas. "So what do you think of Rikku?"

"She's great; she's a lot of fun to be with... a little eccentric sometimes."

"Who? Rikku? Eccentric? No way," Axel joked. "Ugh it's so hot out here."

Axel began taking off his shirt. Roxas found himself noticing his abs and other muscles. He was pretty built, some of that must be from carrying around those heavy drums all day. Roxas was rather envious.

Axel pulled his shirt all the way off and tossed it to the side. "Whew, that's better..."

Roxas was trying not to look over at Axel, but he couldn't resist. The redhead's body shimmered with a light sheen of sweat from the heat. His lips were slightly parted as he ran a hand through his brilliant hair.

"Oh, Roxas," Axel said, drawing Roxas' attention back to exotic green eyes, "My cousin's having a party tonight. You should come. You can meet my friend Larxene, and Demyx might be coming."

"Sounds great," Roxas said.

"He's in college, so he's old enough to buy for us."

"Awesome,"

"So, you wanna go?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna go get a drink."

Roxas headed over to the water fountain. It had two horizontal pipes with multiple holes punched in each, with water constantly flowing through them, so that several people could all drink at once. He bent down to get a drink, when someone shoved his face downward, getting his entire face soaked. He turned around.

"Demyx!"

Roxas picked up the entire water contraption and held it over the other blonde, getting him drenched.

x-X-x

"Rikku?" Yuffie asked urgently.

"Don't worry, I changed it all back. I changed the names in his contacts back, and deleted the records of his calls to your phone. We're in the clear now."

Yuffie breathed a breath of relief. "Alright, thanks... I'll see you guys tomorrow then."

"Bye,"

Yuffie began making her way to the local Burger Barn where she worked. She despised the place, but she needed the job. It was near the school, so it didn't take her long to get there. The building was red and literally shaped like a barn, and her work uniform was supposed to make her look like a farmer.

_Better that than a farm animal, _she supposed, slipping into the employee bathroom to put it on.

She fastened the overalls over her plaid shirt, and placed a straw cowboy hat on her head. She looked in the mirror and made a face at the outfit. She would be working late, as usual. Riku used to come visit her all the time during her breaks. Some of her best memories of him were here. Like the night they were sitting at one of the tables chatting, and she told him how ridiculous she felt wearing her uniform. The next night, he came in all decked out, dressed like a cowboy. She could still see him now, the hat, the boots and the vest... and the smile, walking up to her at the counter, and in his best southern accent asking for a strawberry shake, for her of course, it was her favorite.

"_What are you doing Riku?"_

"_You don't have to be alone now. We can look ridiculous together."_

And then the next day, she could hardly believe, he came to see her in a cow suit. She couldn't stop laughing. Seeing him just made her day, he always found a way to cheer her up.

"_Now you don't have to feel stupid at all, not when you're next to the crazy guy in the cow suit," he had said._

_She laughed, "Yeah, I'm just the girl dating the crazy guy in a cow suit,"_

_Riku smiled, "Well, you know a farmer can't be without their cow."_

Yuffie couldn't help but smile at the memories. But now she was a farmer without her cow, and like any good farmer, she was going to get her cow back.

_As strange as that sounds... _she thought.

She took her phone out, and turned it back on.

11 missed calls

1 new voicemail

4 messages

Yuffie frowned. He had tried to call 11 times. She looked at her texts.

Yuna: _Operation successful_

Rikku: _Code Green_

Rikku: _Code YELLOW_

Rikku: _hello?_

_Great, they were together again anyways. _Yuffie thought.

_I shouldn't listen to the message he left..._

But she had to. She dialed her voicemail inbox.

"_Hi Mom... its Riku... You might not have noticed, but you called me. I'm just kind of worried, so call me back if you get this... love you, bye."_

Yuffie could hear his voice wavering. Her tears were threatening to fall. She cursed herself in her mind.

She sighed. _I've got to get smarter about this from now on. We can't do anything that could affect Riku, but if Namine gets hurt... so be it._

x-X-x

Band Camp was over, and everyone was getting ready to leave. Riku walked into the band room looking incredibly relieved.

"I just got through to my mom, everything's fine," he said.

"That's great news!" Sora said, excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm so relieved."

"I'm glad," Namine said, "I told you there was nothing to worry about."

"You were right. It must have been some kind of misunderstanding," Riku looked confused, "It's really weird though. My mom said she didn't get any of my calls, or messages, and her phone wasn't shut off or anything... and there's no record of the calls on either of our phones..."

"That is really weird..." Namine said.

"I definitely don't understand it, but I'm just glad she's okay," said Riku.

"We all are," said Kairi, with a warm smile.

"Thanks guys," Riku smiled back.

x-X-x

A/N: If you didn't understand what was going on in this chapter Yuffie changed her name in Riku's phone, so when she called him, it said 'Mom' was calling. I hope that wasn't too confusing. Thanks for reading :)


End file.
